Follow UsEven though the euphoria of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup win hasn’t subsided yet, with Mumbai witnessing a massive gathering on July 4 (Thursday) to celebrate the victory, India, albeit with a completely different squad, are now in Zimbabwe for a five-match T20I series. Shubman Gill will lead the side which features many new faces like Riyan Parag, Abhishek Sharma and Tushar Deshpande.
Taking the lid off who would open in Zimbabwe, Gill, in the pre-match press conference, revealed that Abhishek Sharma and him will do the job, with Chennai Super Kings skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad batting at No.3. "Abhishek Sharma will open with me and Ruturaj Gaikwad will bat at No.3," Gill said.
While Sharma scored 484 runs in 16 IPL games this season, his incredible strike rate of 204.21 took the cake. Ruturaj Gaikwad wasn’t too far behind either, scoring 583 runs at an average of 53.00 and a strike rate of 141.16.
With Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma now retired, the baton of T20s has truly been passed, but Gill understands that it would be too big a shoe to fill. “Pressure and expectations…they, I think, always remain. But what Virat Bhai and Rohit Bhai have achieved, if I look to achieve that or reach that, it will be very difficult for me,” Gill said.
“Every player has his own goal, where he wants to reach. That is the pressure. If you want to reach where other people have reached, then you have more pressure. Obviously, there is pressure. But what they’ve achieved or what they did for India…they are both idols and legends of Indian cricket. But as players and the team the things we want to achieve, there is definitely pressure about that,” Gill said.
Gill further banks on his experience of leading Gujarat Titans in the IPL 2024 while leading India in Zimbabwe. "A lot of lessons. When I captained for the first time for my IPL team, I got to know a lot more things about myself and a lot more things about the leadership perspective. And I felt most of the challenges that you face as a captain are more mental," he said.
"It's quite a different team from the one that played in the World Cup. There are a lot of young players in the team, including myself. So I think in terms of that, we just want to give the players experience and how the international, what it is like to play at the international level because a lot of the players haven't played that many matches and some of the players haven't even made their debut. So I think that is our aim for the series, to give them more international exposure and experience,” the Punjab-born batter added.
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