Chandigarh, Sep 22 Former India cricketer Yograj Singh has lavished praise on Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma after their blistering opening stand powered India to a six-wicket victory over Pakistan in the Men’s T20 Asia Cup Super Fours clash on Sunday.
On the night, Abhishek smashed a scintillating 74 off 39 balls and Gill struck 47 off 28 as their 105-run opening partnership set up India’s highest successful chase against Pakistan in T20Is. Chasing 172, India crossed the line with seven balls to spare, extending their unbeaten run in the competition.
“Let me tell you a very simple thing. The way Shubman Gill and Abhishek are playing, even if you have 250 runs, you will chase, but these two will have to play for 15 overs,” Yograj told IANS. “If Shubman and Abhishek play for 15 overs, then our target is 200 runs and after that you can score 300 or whatever. But I will only say one thing to Abhishek and Yuvraj has also said it many times. Try to play for 12 to 15 overs, that’s all.”
Yograj pointed out how the pair’s partnership has become central to India’s batting plans: “Look at yesterday too, we scored 100 in 9 overs. In the 10th over, we were 105 when Shubman got out and soon Abhishek, too got out. So I think they have become very dependent on each other. Shubman has got bowled twice on the same line and length of the ball. So that’s a matter of concern, he should work on that.”
Issuing a reminder about the game’s demands, he added: “You can never be bigger than the game. No matter how big a player you are. Your 100, 200, 300, 400, the brain of the player is not bigger than the game. You should be a student all the time. The more you are a student, the more successful you will be in life. So I think the Indian team will win. But it shouldn’t be like what happened yesterday. Because when the score was there, and when we got the match, it shouldn’t be like that. A player should play up to 20 overs.”
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