"They Don't Always Listen": Irfan Pathan Decodes Abhishek Sharma And Shubman Gill Opening Partnerships
In Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill, India have a great opening partnership that will flourish even more in the days to come
In Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill, India have a great opening partnership that will flourish even more in the days to come. On Friday, Abhishek rewrote the batting history books, offering a slice of his brutality as he became the first player to reach the 300-run mark in the T20I edition of the Asia Cup and also joined legends Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in an elite list. Abhishek notched his third successive fifty during the ongoing Asia Cup, scoring an eye-catching 61 off 31 balls against Sri Lanka, with eight fours and two sixes. He struck at a rate of 196.77.
Former India allrounder Irfan Pathan was effusive in his praise of the duo.
"Abhishek and Shubman, their combination once set is praiseworthy because you need a batter who complements you at the other end. You repeatedly hear them, when they speak, stitch a partnership and explain things to each other, asking for a single to be taken after a four is hit," Pathan said on Sony Sports.
"It's a different thing that they don't always listen because it happened yesterday (Wednesday) as well. Shubman told Abhishek that 15 runs had come in the over and asked him to play the last ball carefully. He said yes, but hit the last ball for a six. So they try to explain things to each other, but this combination is amazing."
Former India wicketkeeper Saba Karim opined that the duo, who played age-group cricket for the same team - Punjab - understood each other well.
"Both keep helping each other always in the game plan as well. While batting, you need to keep feeding off each other. You would have seen many times Abhishek Sharma rotating the strike and telling Shubman Gill what the bowler is doing, the variations they are employing," he said.
"From all these things, it's clearly evident that both of them like batting together. Both are extremely clinical in their approach. It's not like you will see only Abhishek playing big shots every time. In the last match, Shubman started scoring runs quickly in the initial phase. Destroying the opposition bowlers is becoming a sort of habit for them," Saba observed
Irfan Pathan
India Cricket Team