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Shubman Gill‘s celebration after getting to his century against Chennai Super Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad was a bit different. It had more aggression. The usual bow to the crowd with his helmet tucked behind his back came alright but before that, there was a huge roar accompanied by, dare we say, what appeared to be a cuss word.
Gill’s reaction was not unexpected by any means. The Gujarat Titans captain tapered off after getting off to a flying start in IPL 2024. His last five scores were 8, 35, 6, 16 and 2. With Gill’s dip in form came GT’s poor run. They were languishing at the last spot in the points table, with qualification to playoffs hanging by mathematical calculations more than a realistic one.
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri, under whom Gill made his international debut, however, felt the reason was deeper. Shastri said Gill must have been hurting for not making it to India’s T20 World Cup squad.
“He (Gill) would be hurting. He should be hurting. He should look at it positively and try to get better,” Shastri said in commentary when Gill was batting in full flow on Friday.
The former India all-rounder said Gill should walk into any side of the world. “A player of his calibre would walk into any side, but such is the talent in India that he doesn’t get a place,” Shastri added.
The Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee announced India’s 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup in the last week of April. They picked Yashasvi Jaiswal as captain Rohit Sharma’s opening partner. The need for a backup opener was ignored as the squad already has the likes of Virat Kohli and Sanju Samson, who can open the batting if needed.
“His class will continue to grow. He might not be in the World Cup side but he will take it in his stride. That will help him become a better player. He’ll go from strength to strength,” Shastri added.
Gill smashed 104 off just 55 balls. This was his sixth century in T20s. The right-hander stitched a record-equalling 210-run opening partnership with Sai Sudharsan (103 off 51) to help GT post 231/3. They then restricted the defending champions to 196/8 to stay alive in the playoff race.
The win lifted GT from the bottom of the table to the eighth spot. They have 10 points from 12 games, while CSK remained fourth with 12 points.
“The chances of us qualifying was 0.1 or 1 per cent. I think all of us, all 25-30 of us, believe that we can still make it into the playoffs.
“Because I have seen miracles happen with this team in the past couple of years and we all do believe in that,” Gill said in the post-match press conference on Friday night.
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