Prodigiously talented Shubman Gill is not losing sleep over his yet unexplained omission from India's ODI squad after playing just two matches on the tour of New Zealand. After scoring a truckload of runs at the junior level, for Punjab in the Ranji Trophy and then while featuring in the India A set-up, Gill finally made his national debut at Hamilton where he made 9 runs before getting dismissed by an in-form Trent Boult. In the next and final match of the series at Wellington, he scored just 7.
Gill was then disappointingly not selected for the five home ODIs against Australia in March and he just yesterday (April 15) missed the chance to play his first ICC Cricket World Cup this year as the national selectors announced India's 15-member touring party for England and Wales.
But he is optimistic of soon wearing the Indian jersey again, and is relishing his time playing for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League.
"This year’s World Cup is not the last World Cup in cricket," Gill told kkr.in. "I think that you just can’t keep chasing the same thing all the time. If you are in the right direction, you will get your results. For me, it’s really important to play my game and be in the right direction. With that, I believe, other things will follow."
Gill feels blessed to have spent time with the national side so early in career and he further revealed how things were in New Zealand, by saying, "Overall, it was a very good experience. Many said that I didn't perform as expected. The truth is you don't always have a fairytale start."
"You might fail, there will be new challenges and you'll learn from it. So, I don't regret that I didn't score in those two matches. I may have scored in those two and failed later."
"So, I am more motivated now to perform when the next opportunity comes. I try to take positives from all this. I played top Indian bowlers in nets and interacted with support staff. It helped me understand the game a lot more and all in all was a great experience," he added.
Since making his IPL debut last year, Gill has regularly featured in the playing XI for Kolkata Knight Riders, who have had him batting mostly in the lower half of their team's middle-order doing the tough power-hitting duties. Gill has all the shots in the book, but he doesn't believe in muscling the ball away like his teammate Andre Russell does so consistently. And yet, the 19-year-old has been magnificent in his role.
He is very flexible too, which can be gauged by the fact that when Knight Riders asked Gill to open the batting in absence of Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine against Delhi Capitals, he went on to play a terrific knock of 65 runs.
"I was very excited as I was playing at the top order for the first time this year," he said. "So I really wanted to cash in on this opportunity. Jacques Kallis told me not to be nervous about it and play the way I do on nets and not to take any pressure. I have been practising quite a lot from a very long time now. So now I am so used to all this. And I feel incomplete if I miss out even for a day."
"During team practice, I have to manage with other players as well. If I have time for an individual practice session and for some reason I don't practice much, I feel quite missed out."
"So, I am used to all this from childhood days and have been batting for 3-4 hours. Now if I bat for just an hour or less, I feel quite incomplete. So I look for opportunity and practice till I can," Gill signed off.
