Stuff of dreams, says Shubman on his double century
The Hindu
“Was not thinking of a double century, but once I hit sixes in the 47th over, I felt I could get there”
“It (the double century) means a lot to me, “ said a visibly pleased Shubman Gill, the India opener who cracked a brilliant, match-winning 208 against New Zealand in the first ODI here on Wednesday.
“This is what dreams are made of. It’s amazing,” Gill said about joining Ishan Kishan in the 200-club. “He’s one of my best mates in the team and it’s amazing to be able to spend time with him. I was there when he scored his double hundred and it felt amazing,” he said at the post-match briefing here.
“I think in the first ODI against Sri Lanka and in the third ODI, I was set and looking to get a big score, but, unfortunately, that didn’t happen,” Gill said.
“Once I was set, the main focus was to be there for the team and score as many runs as possible. And, it feels good when it pays off,” Gill said.
“Not a conscious effort to keep batting aggressively, I would say. But, with an extra fielder inside the circle, we see other teams pushing in the middle overs,” hesaid. “And, even today, when wickets were falling, my main focus was to show some intent to the bowler because it becomes very easy for the bowler to bowl dot balls if the batsman is not going to show any intent that he’s going to hit any boundaries — even if we have lost a wicket,” he explained.
“The idea was to avoid dot balls, show some intent and hit hard into the gaps. That is what I focused on doing,” said Gill, who became the fastest Indian to reach the 1000-run mark in ODIs.
“Making my dad (my primary coach) and Yuvraj paji, who has been my mentor and worked a lot on my batting, feel proud is a special feeling,” he said.
Asian Games champion Avinash Sable opened his season in the 3000m steeple chase with a silver in the Portland Track Festival, a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze event, in Oregon on Saturday. He clocked 8:21.85s. Asian champion Parul Chaudhary took the bronze in the women’s 3000m steeple chase in a season-best 9:31.38s. Former Asian bronze medallist Sanjivani Jadhav struck gold in the women’s 10,000m in 32:22.77s, a time which was a second off her personal best, while Seema was sixth in 32:55.91s.