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Team India left-arm spinner Axar Patel has stated that Shubman Gill is not as serious in the dressing room as he appears while batting out in the middle.
Gill grabbed the limelight for his 97-ball 130 in the third ODI against Zimbabwe in Harare on Monday (August 22). The youngster’s maiden ODI ton helped India beat Zimbabwe by 13 runs to complete a 3-0 series whitewash.
At the post-match conference, Axar was asked if Gill was as serious off the field as he is on it. In a light-hearted tone, the bowler replied:
“Itna serious nahi hai, jab batting karta hai toh serious ho jaata hai (He is not so serious. He gets serious while batting).”
The 28-year-old also opened up on who the batter enjoys spending time with among his teammates. He added:
“He (Gill) jokes around with everyone. But mostly he enjoys with Ishan (Kishan), me and Avesh (Khan).”
Coming in at No. 3, the right-handed batter smashed 15 fours and a six as India put up a competitive 289 for eight while batting first after winning the toss.
“He makes it a point to keep rotating the strike” - Axar Patel on Shubman Gill’s biggest positive
Gill is enjoying a dream run in ODI cricket. He was the Player of the Series for his consistent performances in the ODIs against West Indies, and picked up the same award following his success in Zimbabwe.
Having played a lot of cricket with the youngster over the years, Axar was asked for his observation on what has changed in Gill’s game. He pointed out:
“He is taking singles and twos more regularly and is not playing a lot of dot balls. I think that is his biggest positive. Whenever he bats, he makes it a point to keep rotating the strike. He also converts bad balls into boundaries. He also plays spinners very well and is very good with the sweep and reverse sweep.”
Gill has scored 499 runs, including one century and three fifties, at an average of 71.28 in nine ODIs.
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