‘Gill is 99 per cent available’

India’s Shubman Gill during a practice session on the eve of the match against Pakistan in Ahmedabad yesterday. Pic/AFP

The Indian team management is known to keep their cards very close to their chests when it comes to revealing the playing XI before any international game. However, there is one big-match player even they have struggled to hide so far in the build-up to the blockbuster battle with arch-rivals Pakistan at the Narendra Modi Stadium today.

Prolific opener Shubman Gill, 24, first made his presence felt when he arrived in Gujarat's most prosperous city a few hours before the Indian team on Thursday morning and hit the nets in a bid to check his match readiness after recovering from a severe bout of dengue that needed hospitalisation and saw him miss India's opening two matches of the World Cup.

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Batting on fleek

Then, on match-eve, he kicked off the practice session with a speedy round of football and while the rest of his teammates continued field training, he headed off to the nets where he batted like a breeze with the top-order for company. All this being clear indications that he's set to make his much-awaited World Cup debut today.

Rohit Sharma

Though there was no confirmation about this from the team management, skipper Rohit Sharma provided a lot more than a hint when he said at the match-eve press conference that "Shubman is 99 per cent available for selection against Pakistan."

In Gill's absence, Ishan Kishan opened the batting with Rohit in the first match against Australia, getting a duck in the six-wicket win. Then, in the eight-wicket win over Afghanistan, Kishan made a run-a-ball 47. However, Gill's one-day numbers are so impressive that no eyebrows will be raised if Kishan does make way for him against the Pakistanis.

Staggering ODI record

In 35 ODIs so far, Gill has a highly impressive average of 66.10 with six centuries and nine fifties to his name. His recent form has been top-notch too. In a little over two months, since August 1, Gill has played nine ODIs, scoring two centuries and four half-tons.

At the nets yesterday, he was middling everything that was thrown at him. First-up, he faced pace ace Mohammed Shami and cautiously played a few early deliveries before getting into the groove and hitting it back, straight and hard. Veteran offie R Ashwin was next, and his sharp turners got similar treatment from Gill's willow. At the neighbouring net, star batsman Virat Kohli also, for a brief moment stopped, and watched closely as Gill got it right almost always.

Rhythm is key

Interestingly, India captain Rohit, among other things, also stressed on the importance of continuity of rhythm, and his views perfectly applied to Gill in this case. "Rhythm is very important. It is also called momentum. We have played seven or eight matches in India and before that, in Sri Lanka and here too, we played two matches of the World Cup. The bowlers have very good performances, be it the spinners or seamers. In the batting [department] too, all the batsmen have scored runs. In our last eight or nine games, from the top to No. 8, all batsmen have made runs. So, it's all about the rhythm and it's always nice to go into any World Cup game with that kind of rhythm and confidence," he said.