Star batter Shubman Gill on Saturday (February 22) offered his perspective on the India versus Pakistan rivalry, refusing to call it " overhyped” or “underhyped”.
However, Gill added that the game is not the “biggest” in any competition as the final has to be the standout fixture.
On Sunday (February 23), India and Pakistan will lock horns with each other in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
“India-Pakistan has its own history. It is an exciting contest every time both teams play. If so many people get happiness by watching this rivalry, who are we to call it over-hyped or under-hyped? We go to play cricket and we try to make our team win,” Gill told reporters in the pre-match presser.
“It is a big match, but I think the biggest match would be the finals that any team plays. We have been playing some good ODI cricket. Pakistan have lost some of the matches they have played recently. By no means will we think of them as a lesser side,” he added.
Shubman Gill slammed 101 not out against Bangladesh to script India’s six-wicket victory in their campaign opener. The right-handed opener played according to the situation, and this was the true highlight of his knock.
Gill rated this knock “one of the most satisfying” innings he has ever played. “Definitely one of the most satisfying innings that I have ever played. Champions Trophy format is such, there is little margin of error. If you lose even one match, there is a lot of pressure and the rest of the games become must-win. There was a brief period in the match against Bangladesh, where there was little pressure on us as a batting group. The target was not that so we could have taken a little more time. We just tried to rotate the strike and take fewer risks,” he stated.
Shubman also highlighted the stark difference between the approach of his and captain Rohit Sharma. He mentioned how the opening partner’s attacking display has made his own game better.
“I think the way we play the game in the powerplay is quite different. Rohit bhai likes to play more aerial shots and try to hit those big sixes. I like to play grounded shots and pierce those gaps. If I see the bowler under the pressure, then I look to take my chances and go over the circle. That is the hallmark of us as a pair, we score boundaries with different shots and the bowlers really have to think which areas to target for us. The areas which we target are different to each other,” said Gill.
“It doesn't affect me as such. Rohit bhai has his own style, if anything it helps in getting into my own groove and go about things. It is a delight to watch from the non-striker's end. We have had few good partnerships over the past few years. I like to bat with him all the time,” he remarked.
Dew played a big role when the T20 World Cup 2021 was held in the UAE, and Gill said it impacts the game even more in the ODI format.
"In the last match, dew was not there. When dew is not there, it is not that easy to bat (under lights) and it is not that easy to rotate strike as well. Whoever does well in middle overs has a better chance of winning. With lack of dew, toss also doesn't play a big role.
"But, for any team - in any big match, if we don't get dew then the team that is batting later will have more pressure," said the stylish batter.
Given the conditions, Gill reckons anything in excess of 300 will be a very good score here. "Definitely we want to play aggressive and positive cricket but that also depends on the surface. Score would be different on every wicket that we play. So 300 on this wicket or 280 would be a very good score for us."
"But if the wicket plays any differently, we might get 350 or 360. So, we don't have any particular target set in our mind," he said.
