Shubman Gill scores ton for Punjab. (FILE photo)
Shubman Gill’s defiant hundred could not defy a defeat at the hands of Karnataka, but he illustrated the virtues to labour out of a lean run. Among the Test stalwarts returning to the domestic field, he was the lone centurion. The next best was Ravindra Jadeja’s 38 in the first innings against Delhi in Rajkot. Jadeja aside, all others ended up on the losing side, as Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal watched Jammu and Kashmir extend their red-ball agony with a five-wicket victory.
Shubman Gill lbw Shreyas Gopal 102 (171b)
For 171 balls, Shubman Gill tried to delay the inevitable. Erasing a deficit of 425 runs was cruelly impossible against Karnataka’s disciplined bowling firm. But Gill waged a lonely battle. He gritted out for much of his knock, his first 50 runs consuming 119 balls. His stickability had been criticised in the tour of Australia, facing only 163 balls across five innings. Apart from the vulnerabilities of his technique that inhibits the weight transfer on to his front foot, his tenacity, or the lack of it thereof, has been criticised.
But at the Chinnaswamy, he put his best foot forward to blunt Karnataka’s resourceful seamers. To negate the swing, exaggerated by the characteristic January nip and the skills of V Koushik and friends to harness it, he not only stood outside the crease, but also sashayed down the deck to seamers.
Of late, he has been impetuously jinking out of the crease, especially against the spinners, which undid him a couple of times in Australia. But here his method seemingly worked, as he alone got a measure of the medium pacers. That the next highest run-scorer was Mayank Markande (27) depicts the story. His side lost wickets in a heap to the medium-paced wiles of Yashovardhan Parantap, who grabbed three wickets and reduced Punjab to 84/6 in the first session.
With Markande, Gill initiated the rescue act and sewed 63 runs. At this juncture, he decided to accelerate. He consumed only 40 balls to move from 50 to 100, which was his first first-class hundred since scoring 119 not out in the second innings of the Chennai Test against Bangladesh. He completed the landmark–14 fours and three sixes garnishing it–with a clip off his legs and scampered for a couple. But he could add only two more runs to his hundred, before he was adjudged leg before wicket when he tried to paddle the brisk leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal. Gill trudged off agitated because he was convinced that he had managed to impart some part of the bat on the ball. In a trice, Punjab were bowled, handing out Karnataka a victory by an innings and 207 runs. Nonetheless, the hundred was a timely fillip to his flailing morale after the tour to Australia.
Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma couldn’t inspire Mumbai with the bat against a spirited Jammu and Kashmir. But he did his bit on the field with his energy and involvement. At the start of J and K’s chase of 207, he gave an animated talk in the huddle. Even though he was not the designated captain, he frequently chatted with the bowlers, helped them set fields, and encouraged them whenever they beat the batsman. But he still ended up on the losing side of a red-ball game, his last taste of victory coming in October in Kanpur.
Mumbai’s next game begins on January 30, against Meghalaya. But with the ODIs against England scheduled to begin from February 6, it has to be seen whether Rohit or the others would feature in the last round of Ranji group stage games.
I’m Manas Ranjan Sahoo: Founder of “Webtirety Software”. I’m a Full-time Software Professional and an aspiring entrepreneur, dedicated to growing this platform as large as possible. I love to Write Blogs on Software, Mobile applications, Web Technology, eCommerce, SEO, and about My experience with Life.
