Pakistan skipper Babar Azam was brutally trolled online after India's opening batter Shubman Gill scripted history with his maiden T20I century in Ahmedabad on Wednesday. The social media mockery of Babar Azam came after Shubman Gill became the youngest men's cricketer to score hundreds in all three formats of the game. At 23 years and 146 days, he accomplished the feat against New Zealand in the third T20I at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
While some netizens claimed that Shubman Gill was doing what a 28-year-old Babar Azam only dreamt of doing, others alleged that the former was already a better batter than the latter.
Another set of Indian cricket team's supporters declared that Babar Azam wasn't even as good as Shubman Gill, and hence, he should not be compared to the talismanic Virat Kohli.
The 23-year old Shubman Gill is what the 28-year old Babar Azam wants to be. #ShubmanGill pic.twitter.com/h8gMTo9niH
— Khushi (@khushi_1007) February 2, 2023
Babar Azam is no match for Shubman Gill. Most Pakistani’s who know their cricket agree with me.
Intent, Class, DOMINATION 🇮🇳#ShubmanGill— Sushant Mehta (@SushantNMehta) February 1, 2023
Babar Azam is better tham Shubman Gill pic.twitter.com/S76BBdjRJ6
— desi mojito 🇮🇳 (@desimojito) February 1, 2023
https://twitter.com/43rdSoon/status/1620866092041383936
Babar azam is not even as good as Shubman gill but they sneak him into Virat Kohli debates😂.
— SergioCSK (@sergiocskk) February 2, 2023
Shubman Gill joined a select band of Indian players who have made hundreds across all formats. Before him, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, and KL Rahul were the only Indians to reach the milestone.
Moreover, Gill is the youngest Indian batter to hit a T20I hundred, going past Suresh Raina’s previous mark, who achieved the landmark in 23 years and 156 days.
If this wasn’t enough, Shubman Gill added another feather to his cap as he leapfrogged Virat Kohli to have the highest score by an Indian in T20Is. The former India captain scored an excellent 122 off 61 balls against Afghanistan in the Asia Cup in September last year.
The youngster was positive from the outset as he cracked boundaries early in his innings before clobbering Lockie Ferguson for 11 runs in an over.
Afterward, Shubman Gill went berserk as he began dealing in boundaries and sixes, but his all-out assault on the New Zealand bowlers only came after he completed his half-century. Later, Rahul Tripathi and Suryakumar Yadav perished after scoring 44 off 22 and 24 off 13 balls, leaving Gill to go ballistic in his attack.
Gill struck back-to-back sixes against Benjamin Lister before smashing two more maximums against Blair Tickner to cruise into the 90s. He brought up his maiden T20I century with a powerful cover drive off Lockie Ferguson and collected another 17 runs in the 19th over to take India past the 200-mark. The Men in Blue eventually finished with a mammoth total of 234/4.
Chasing a massive score, New Zealand never looked threatening during the run chase as they lost their openers in the first two overs and half their side inside the initial powerplay. Later, Hardik Pandya and his boys bowled them out for 66, registering their biggest victory in T20Is by a massive margin of 168 runs.
Comparing Shubman Gill with Virat Kohli, former India pacer Irfan Pathan said that the young batter had the potential to play all three formats for the national team and replicate the former skipper's lofty standards.
“The way he is batting, I am a huge fan of his. I am repeatedly saying that he can become an all-format player for you. Virat Kohli ruled all formats for many years, this batter has as much potential. To convert that into performance is a different thing,” Irfan Pathan said.
“That happens with time but Shubman Gill has started to do that. He scored his first century in August. Gill has now scored a total of six centuries in international cricket and we have just started February, where all other players have scored just four international centuries,” Irfan Pathan added.
Meanwhile, Shubman Gill credited skipper Hardik Pandya for giving him the confidence to bat freely.
“I didn't do well up to my expectations in T20s. So I was eager to do well. You gave me the confidence before the match. Before I went to the game, you told me match se pehle ki jaise main khelta hu vaise hi khelo (before the match, you asked me to keep faith in my game). Vo chhoti chhoti cheez help karti hai (those small things help) when I know I don't have to do anything extra, or anything that's not me. that helped today. The way I practice, the way my dad made me practice, I think 90 percent credit goes to him,” Shubman Gill told Hardik Pandya in a post-match interaction.
“To be able to play how I play, I've to be very mentally clear. That's what you told me. Every time I hit a six, he (Hardik) came and told me hold your shape. You don't have to do anything extra. Don't try to go too hard. Every ball, he kept reminding me. Especially in the last over against Santner. I was in the zone, I was hitting. I thought maybe I will go for him. But you told me to hold myself back, and to target the other bowlers. Because he had been bowling well. Tactically and technically, it was a near-perfect game for me,” Shubman Gill concluded.
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