‘Serious class’- Twitter overjoyed as Shubman Gill hits his maiden ODI century

The Indian team having already clinched the ODI series against Zimbabwe clashed again in the third and final match of the tour on Monday. This match, however, will be remembered for Shubman Gill’s classic hundred in the first innings. Having won the toss, India started off in great fashion with Shikhar Dhawan (40) and KL Rahul (30) giving a great start to the Indian inning. Both, however, perished off Brad Evans and could not take their good start to a big score.

It was, however, the next batter Shubman Gill, who came in and graced the pitch with a classy hundred, his first in ODIs. The right-hand batter came in when India was at 63/1 in 14.6 overs and took charge of the Indian batting.

The Punjab-born batter completed his 100 off 80 deliveries and reached 130 in 97 balls before getting dismissed by Evans while playing a lofted shot. The batting prodigy first shot to fame in the 2018 Under 19 World Cup where he scored an impressive 418 at a sensational average of 104.50.

On the back of his performance in the under-19 World Cup, the batter was signed by the Kolkata team in the Indian T20 League for Rs 1.8 Crore. In 74 Indian T20 League matches, Gill has made 1900 runs at an average of 32.2 and a strike rate of 125.5.

He has scored 14 half centuries with his highest being 96. With Virat Kohli out of form, India are in great need of a number three batter. 22-year-old Gill seems to fulfil this role and looks capable to take the baton forward. In the ongoing series, Gill leads all with 245 runs in three matches, with Dhawan coming in at second with 154 runs. Gill averages 122 in the ongoing series against Zimbabwe.

Interestingly, Rohit Sharma also made his first ODI century at Harare way back in 2010. KL Rahul also made his first century on foreign land at the same ground. India won the first two matches in the series and are looking set for a third win. The Men in Blue would fly to UAE for their Asia Cup match against Pakistan on August 28th.

Let’s look at some reactions to Shubman Gill’s first century.