Follow UsIt was all déjà vu for Shubman Gill.
Everything that happened during the 2023 Asia Cup encounter against Bangladesh in Colombo was happening in India’s first match of the 2025 Champions Trophy in Dubai against the same opponent.
In Colombo, India were set a target of 266 and Gill crafted 121 off 133 deliveries, but it was still not enough to get his team over the line. The young opener threw his wicket away, with India still needing 56 runs, and the Men in Blue ended up falling short by six runs on a tricky surface.
"There's so much adrenaline when you are batting, sometimes you miscalculate. That was a miscalculation on my side. When you got out, you saw there was a lot of time left,” Gill had said after that Asia Cup game on September 15, 2023.
“If I had batted a bit normally or not that aggressively, we should have been able to get over the line. Fortunately, this was not the final for us. These are the kind of learnings that as a batsman you want to take and move forward."
The match situation in Dubai was similar to Colombo’s, with the conditions being on the trickier side. The Men in Blue were set a target of 229 in their opening game of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 and were once again put in a precarious position in the run-chase.
Rohit Sharma (36-ball 41) did his thing at the top and got the team off to a flying start. Meanwhile, Gill was happy to play the second fiddle. The 25-year-old scored 16 off his first 20 deliveries before taking off against Tanzim Hasan Sakib, the same man who destroyed India in Colombo.
Gill brought out his traditional short-arm jab and slapped Tanzim for a 98-meter six over deep mid-wicket. He then danced down the track and got another boundary in the cover region. His strike rate went over 100 in a space of two deliveries, and it felt like we were in for another flawless knock from India’s best ODI batter in the last two-three years.
Everything was going right for India but that’s when skipper Rohit fell to Taskin Ahmed and Bangladesh found an opening. Virat Kohli (22 off 38), Shreyas Iyer (15 off 17) and Axar Patel (8 off 12) didn’t do much and India were reduced to 144/4 in 30.1 overs.
The “learnings” Gill spoke about after the loss in the Asia Cup, well, it was time to apply them in the real world. The moment Rohit got out, Gill knew that the onus was on him to take India over the line. The right-hander shut down his attacking instinct and focused only on the strike rotation.
Gill, who scored at a strike rate of 113.04 in the powerplay, went at just 63.53 in the middle overs, but that’s exactly what India needed at that point in time. Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Rishad were bowling with great control in the middle overs, making boundary-hitting extremely difficult.
Gill understood what was needed, which Kohli, Iyer and Axar failed to do. They got out playing a risky shot on a surface that wasn’t really easy for batting. Gill scored 54 off 85 deliveries in the middle phase (11-40 overs), hitting only three fours.
Bangladesh had only two spinners in their playing 11 and Gill, who loves going after tweakers, got only 34 runs off 56 deliveries against them. For someone who has a strike rate of close to 100 against spin in the 50-over format, Gill operated at just 60.71 against Mehidy and Rishad.
Instead, he targetted the fast bowlers, especially Tanzim. Against pacers, Gill scored 67 off 73 at a strike rate of 91.78, with 38 off 28 coming against Tanzim. Just like a pro, Gill went after a bowler whom he found easier to deal with and got more than 37 percent of his total runs against him.
The full-time Indian vice-captain, Gill put on an unbeaten stand of 87 alongside KL Rahul (41 off 47) and ensured there was no Colombo 2023 in Dubai of 2025.
Gill’s century didn’t surprise anyone as the batter was in a phenomenal form coming into the tournament, with scores of 112, 60 and 87 in his last three ODIs. The young batter brought up his eighth hundred in the format, becoming the quickest Indian to get to the landmark in terms of innings - 51.
However, what surprised everyone was the way he went about his business. Gill got to his hundred off 125 deliveries - his slowest, but the most satisfying one in the format. In fact, six of his eight hundreds have come at a strike rate of more than 100.
“Definitely one of my most satisfying innings that I have played and my first century in ICC events. Very satisfying, and very happy with the way I performed. There was a bit of pressure on us. The message was sent from outside that I have to try to bat till the end and that's what I tried to do,” said Gill after receiving the Player of the Match award.
Talking about how he planned and constructed his innings, Gill said, “When me and Rohit bhai went out there, we thought cutting the ball wasn't easy because the balls which were outside the off-stump weren't coming onto the bat that nicely. So I thought of using my feet to even the fast bowlers and tried to go over the circle."
“When the spinners came on, me and Virat bhai were talking in the middle that it's not easy to score singles off the front foot, so we'll try to score singles off the back foot. And it's not easy to hit down the ground, so we just keep rotating the strike,” added Gill, sounding like someone who has already played close to 200 ODIs.
This was Gill’s coming-of-age innings. He has shown his class in the past with fluent run-a-ball or quicker hundreds, but a ton like this on a pitch that wasn’t straightforward show his growth as a batter. This is what Kohli used to do in his peak years, and now it’s Gill who has taken over the baton.