WI vs IND, 4th T20I: Shubman Gill under the lens as action shifts to Florida
As India’s Caribbean sojourn ends and the action shifts to the Lauderhill stadium in Florida, not too far away from the vacation hotspot of Miami for the final 2 T20Is of the tour, Shubman Gill – the brightest batting star in the team finds the spotlight on him; only this time for his lack of runs.
India’s Shubman Gill plays a shot to by stumped by West Indies’ Roston Chase during their first T20 cricket match at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba(AP)
The 23-year-old is just discovering how fickle form can be. Two months back, with 890 IPL runs in the season, he came close to beating Virat Kohli’s magnificent 2016 exploits. In his 11 international innings since – 5 in Tests, 3 in ODIs and 3 in T20Is – Gill has only one 50-plus score (85 in 2nd ODI) to show.
Seeing performances across formats with the same lens can be misleading. But Gill’s meagre returns from the three T20Is so far (16 runs) clearly stick out. It’s also his mode of dismissals – twice caught out in the deep on either side of the wicket, a mistimed drive and a pull against pace; and beaten in flight against spin, which may be worrying.
Having displayed a heady cocktail of elegance and destructiveness with his batting in the first half of the year, Gill has struggled to come to terms with the lack of pace on offer on West Indian pitches. This is where the next T20 World Cup will be played and India may end up playing on some spin-friendly tracks in the ODI World Cup too.
Another adverse stat around Gill’s year is how his T20 record at his IPL home, Ahmedabad (10 matches, Avg 87, SR 177), where the surface plays fair, is superb. But he hasn’t always managed to replicate that on the slower wickets elsewhere.
While Gill has been dismissed attempting attacking shots in each match this series, he’s also had little control over his shots during his brief stays. He would know that he needs to find a way to not get drawn into playing shots o. Whether the skillful batter manages to achieve that quickly enough with Rahul Dravid’s help will be interesting to watch.
SERIES ON THE LINE
For India to close a West Indies tour in Florida has become a regular feature. But the pitches at this multi-sport venue have been far from predictable. The first time India played here in 2016, they fell 1 run short of chasing down 246. They scored heavily in their last two outings too. But there was also one match where they were stretched in trying to achieve a 96-run target.
The series itself is on the line with India trailing 1-2. Not many remember the results of a bilateral these days, but India are one of the most dominant teams in bilateral cricket. Hardik Pandya’s team wouldn’t want to be caught looking at long-term goals at the cost of a series loss.
Southpaw Tilak Varma will have another opportunity to further boost his growing reputation. Yashasvi Jaiswal will have another go to try and create the same early impact that we saw in IPL 2023, where he was able to outperform Jos Buttler.
Other than Suryakumar Yadav’s 360-degree fireworks in the last T20I, a big reason India could register a win was their bowler’s ability to keep the in-form Nicolas Pooran in check. In the first 2 matches, Pandya was unable to use his bowling resources effectively against the left-hander, who took the attacking route against the Indian spinners.
Learning from his mistakes, Pandya used up some overs of Axar Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal before Pooran came out to bat, with pacer Mukesh Kumar coming in only for the death overs. The manner in which Pandya utilises his bowling resources will be closely watched, as the selectors take notes of how the Indian T20 team takes shape, both in terms of combinations and tactics.
