On day three, as play resumed between India A and Australia A at the KSCA grounds in Alur, 19-year-old, Shubman Gill, batted as though he was out there to prove that one could not make an absolute rule of this belief. That boys, too, can be just as effective with the right routine and mindset.
Gill, at the time he took guard, was surrounded by slip, leg-slip, short-leg and gully. The players occupying the respective positions, including keeper Peter Handscomb and bowler, leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson, have all either represented Australia or are on the cusp of national selection. Gill, on the other hand, is still finding his feet with the A team and his state side Punjab.
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India was 223/3 and an early wicket could've spelt trouble for the host — especially with Australia on the attack and the conditions, too, favouring the bowlers early in the day.
But Gill, unperturbed by the pressure, took the onus and responsibility to ride out the phase. The U-19 World Cup winner didn't play a single false shot during his innings, and had weathered the initial storm by the time he got out on a well-crafted 50.
After losing to India B in the final of the quadrangular ODI series, Australia A pacer Chris Tremain had said that Gill had "hit the ball like no one I'd ever seen before". Gill had scored an unbeaten 66 in that final.
It's only when Gill applauds his teammates on the field that you realise that his voice has not yet cracked. On Monday, neither did his resolve.
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