Indian opener Shubman Gill opened up about the importance of winning matches while chasing the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 after they recorded their fourth straight win in the tournament.
Team India crushed Bangladesh by seven wickets in the 17th match of the ongoing Cricket World Cup 2023 at the MCA Stadium in Pune on Thursday, October 19. It was their fourth successive win in the tournament. Notably, all these wins for the Men in Blue have come while batting second in CWC 2023.
After the match, Gill said that winning all matches while chasing has been a massive boost to the Indian cricket team. Especially after losing to Australia in a bilateral series and Bangladesh in the Asia Cup 2023, while chasing.
Shubman Gill was quoted as saying by ICC: “Definitely, I think this is one of the things which was talked about, especially leading up to the World Cup, that we were not chasing that well, those big totals. I think having won all the four matches while chasing, I think it's a great way to have that momentum with us in those big games that we'll have moving forward.”
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He continued, “I think when we bat first, we know which template to go with and we have made big scores regularly. When we chase big scores, especially in big tournaments, it is important to chase. Once you gain confidence with the batsmen, it helps a lot in big matches.
The coach and the captain have a bigger role to play. We have to chase the opponent. We'll see how the wicket is and how the conditions will be for batting.”
Meanwhile, Gill said that the way Indian captain Rohit Sharma has been aggressively batting while chasing perfectly explains the Men in Blue’s approach in the CWC 2023.
He said, “The approach while chasing, Rohit has been batting exceptionally well and he's been all guns blazing, especially while chasing. And I think that's giving us the right momentum. Then it's easier for the batsmen who are coming in when the run rate is around four or five in chasing.”
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The right-hander also said that being around phenomenal players like Rohit and Virat helped him a lot on how to go about his own game.
He noted, “To see them how they go about their business in World Cup and big games is what I always try to learn from them. I think there's a fine line between sometimes being too aggressive or going in the shell, especially playing big games. But I think the way they play, the way their mindset is playing those big games in the World Cup is what I try to learn from them.”
Speaking about the illness, which forced him to miss the first two CWC 2023 matches, Gill said: “When I was a little sick, I was feeling a bit disappointed on missing out on those opportunitienitely felt nice to get some game time.”
He signed off by saying, “I think you have to be mentally willing to go out there and that's what I was thinking when I was there. I lost a few kilos in the process but hopefully I'll be able to gain that back.”
India will next play New Zealand in Dharamshala on October 22 and then England in Lucknow on October 29.
(With ICC Inputs)
