After excelling in Test cricket and ODIs, Shubman Gill must master the T20 format

Gill has steadily mastered the classical notes, its peculiar rhythms and rhymes. He has nuanced semi-classical riffs. Like Virat Kohli, he frictionlessly imbibed its tunes, captured its soul and is arguably his country’s finest batsman in the 50-over format, having, functionally, grabbed the mantle from Kohli, riding in the autumn of his career. Stealthy, he is building an imposing portfolio.

The lone remaining genre where he hasn’t quite struck the crescendo is the non-classical genre. He boasts a 50-ball hundred, is astonishingly consistent, and strikes at a healthy but not startling, by post-modern metrics, tempo. But he has not quite captured the imagination of the T20 milieu. There has not been a definitive moment that bursts into the mind of the audience when thinking of Gill the T20 batsman. Like the 754-run series in England, or the 208 against New Zealand in Hyderabad. A performance that defines him.

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It would be another fascinating narrative arc of his career. How he adapts to the varied evolving demands of the three formats. The all-format tribe is dwindling in the onslaught of micro-specialisation in the white-ball version. The sheer intensity and packed calendar is such that starring in all three forms is a preserve of a few chosen men of cricketing divinity. The old fab four no longer commits themselves to these rigours. The emerging ones, like Gill, Harry Brook and Kamindu Mendis, are still acquainting themselves with the burden. It was tougher than it was in the previous generation, because the game is evolving at light years’ pace. It is a tightrope only the greatest of batsmen walk.

In a sense he finds himself in a similar situation as he had been before the Test series in England. The questions around him were different and more complex. He had to prove both his captaincy chops as well as his batting potency in England, a crushing burden on the young shoulders. He passed both examinations, batsmanship in higher grades. Here, he would feel the need to justify his presence and leave his imprint in the sport’s most popular and culturally dominant format.

The burden is lighter here. He needn’t spend endless hours meditating on the team combination. He needn’t dwell on toss or tactics, unless Suryakumar Yadav gets injured. His inputs will be sought but not in the way it disturbs his sleep. He can fully focus on his batting. There is a wonderful adaptability about his batting. There was a time when critics doubted his competence against spinners on turners. He defied them with knocks of steel in the home series against England. They wondered whether he could deal with the caprices in England. He did, even though the pitches were bereft of the demons earlier generations had endured.

Now they brood on whether he could reproduce the heavy metal brand of cricket Team India endorses. In the past, he has shown he could well raise the hitting rate, that he is not the old-fashioned anchor, a baggage in this era. At the same time, he could be the safety valve on a difficult pitch. His last knock was a perfect illustration. India batted on a disturbingly sluggish pitch in Sri Lanka, where he top-scored with 39 runs from 37 balls in a total of 137 runs. The hosts could only tie the score and India later won in the Super Over. So even his apparently modest (by neo-modern metrics) strike rate of 141.09, needs some contextualising.

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Varied gears

India’s batting line-up has the muscle and mind, all they need is the backbone. Gill could be the backbone. Few have such varied gears as Gill. He could frictionlessly switch between an aggressor, accumulator, or put on a hostile surface, the glue that binds the innings together. He could guide run chases, the unshakeable axis that lets flashier stroke-makers flourish around him, he could be the voice that lends clarity when Suryakumar is doubt-ridden.

There would, inevitably, be pressure. But he knows about pressure. He has handled pressure, of 1.3 billion fidgeting when he bats, of social-media snap judgements, in a sense pressure stimulates him. The piercing attention doesn’t wither him. And in Dubai begins his flight to all-format greatness.

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