Both Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill seamlessly found a rhythm with one another at the crease, established a potent opening combination for India and delivered a flamboyant partnership to secure the lead over the West Indies.
Rohit himself was responsible for going through the phases of a bowling attack, as Gill was able to keep the score moving by keeping switching the positions. The pair shared the role of applying pressure to the West Indian bowlers with regular change of effort to keep India on pace to a far more challenging target.
The innings also brought another landmark moment for Gill in his speedy ODI career. The Indian abhit will now be just 68 innings ahead of the Indian skipper in entering the 11 ODI centuries club, having made 14 innings impact ahead of Virat Kohli’s 68 innings.
Kohli has registered his first 11 ODI hundreds in 82 innings. He broke the record making an unbeaten 183 at Mirpur in 2012’s Asia Cup against Pakistan in his 11th century.
So Gill has now matched a player with a shorter lead time. One of the traits that stood out about his ODI career was his ability to reach the big numbers, especially at a fast rate knowing he hasn’t had the luxury of a lot of opportunities.
The comparison is only in terms of the innings in which the two batters have reached 11 centuries and is not meant to apply beyond that point, having been played in different eras and for different reasons.
Shubman Gill’s achievement is the next big one to add to his list of achievements at the top of India’s ODI batting order. The Indian duo also gave India the platform it needs to assail the West Indies with a big total.
As Gill keeps piling centuries, the discussion of comparing his ODI career with Kohli’s is only likely to be temperature when he gets to another major batting milestone.