Indian batsman Shubman Gill has stated his desire to bat in the middle order during limited-overs matches and stressed the importance of relying more on rotating strike against spin in T20 cricket in order to minimise dot balls.
Despite being a regular in India’s Test team, Gill has only been included in the squad for the ODIs and is yet to play in a T20I.
In seven of the nine 50-over games Gill played this year against the West Indies, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, Shikhar Dhawan opened the batting because Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, and Virat Kohli were not available.
“I believe that the fewer dot balls you play in T20s, the better your strike rate will be”, Gill told ESPNcricinfo ahead of Punjab’s preliminary quarter-final match against Haryana in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. “Almost all batsmen have the same boundary percentage, but the ones with fewer dot balls have a higher strike rate. In T20s, you need to know what the bowler is trying to do. Those who bowl in a set way, you can dominate them.
“My game all-round is very good and I rotate the strike well against spinners. So even if I get a chance in the middle order, I am ready for that. If they [the team management] are looking at me in the middle order, then I am ready for it. When I scored in Zimbabwe, I was batting at one down, I didn’t open. So one down or two down, whatever the team needs, I am ready.”
The first county experience Gill had with Glamorgan, when he scored 244 runs in three games, including a century and a half-century, made him reflect on that as well.
He asserted that in England, a solid start cannot be taken for granted, in contrast to India. “In England, you have to concentrate all the time,” he said. “In those conditions, sometimes you feel you are set, but one spell can throw you off. It’s not like that in India. Here once you reach 40-50, there is a pattern to bat. There is no such pattern in England. You could be batting at 110 and are still not set. No matter what score you are on, you have to be careful [on] every ball.”
“The red-ball format is very important to me,” he said. “You get a different type of confidence when you do well in red-ball cricket. I am ready to bat wherever there’s a vacant spot in the side.
“I don’t think there is anything wrong with my technique. When your concentration is disturbed, or you relax a little bit, and then if a good ball comes, you miss it. I think it always happens with me that I am batting well and then I get out.
“There is no phase where I get out after I am constantly beaten. I think it [dismissal] is because of lapse in concentration. When a batsman is struggling, he is more alert. With me, sometimes it’s the other way round. I fail to keep my concentration going when I’m batting well.”