Shubman Gill Wants to Open in T20Is After Kohli, Rohit Vacate Slots

Shubman Gill is aware of how difficult it is to equal the formidable achievements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, but the rising batting sensation wants to take his time transitioning into the T20I opener post when the two contemporary greats have retired from the competition.

A reserve player in the recently finished T20 World Cup, Gill is captaining a subpar Indian squad in the five-match T20 International series against Zimbabwe, which gets underway here on Saturday.

“I think Rohit Bhai was an opener and Virat Bhai also opened in this World Cup…I have also opened in T20s. So, I think I will want to open in T20Is,” he said during the pre-match press conference here.

Gill stated that although considering matching the two greats in Kohli and Rohit, he wanted to follow his own objectives without submitting to undue pressure.

Asked how he will deal with the burden of expectations, Gill said: “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.

“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,” he said.

The 24-year-old rated Kohli and Rohit as idols for young cricketers.

“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.”

In the five-match T20I series, Gill revealed that Abhishek Sharma, who was playing brilliantly for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2024, will open the innings with him.

“Abhishek Sharma will open with me and Ruturaj Gaikwad will bat at No.3,” he said.

After Hardik Pandya took over as Mumbai Indians captain, Gill captained the Gujarat Titans during the IPL.

Gill was relying heavily on that Zimbabwean expertise.

“I’ve learnt a lot of lessons when I captained my IPL team for the first time. I got to know a lot more things about myself and a lot more things about the leadership perspective,” he said.

“I felt most of the challenges that you face as a captain are more mental, how you prepare the boys. Everyone’s got the skill set, it’s about how you can give other players the confidence to be able to deliver that skill set on the field.”

During the series against Zimbabwe, Gill remarked, the youthful Indian team will acquire a lot of experience and some much-needed exposure to international cricket.

“If you look at the team, it’s a quite different team from the one that played in the World Cup. There are a lot of young players in the team, including myself.

“We just want to give the players experience and 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.

“I think that is our aim for the series to give them more international exposure and experience.”

Talking about Zimbabwe, Gill said: “I think you guys have got a good T20 team. Even the last time when we played in the one-dayers….the last one-day we played went on to be quite a close one.

“We know that it’s going to be no different. The way you guys are going to come against us is going to be no different than any other nation and that’s the challenge for us,” he signed off.

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