Shubman Gill finally scored valuable runs on the ongoing West Indies tour as after just one fifty in two Tests and 3 ODIs, the right-hander had struggled in the first three T20Is as well.
However, with India down 1-2 in the five-T20I series, India needed its batters to fire and they did. West Indies captain Rovman Powell had won the toss in the 4th match in Florida and chose to bat first.
The hosts posted 178/8 with Shimron Hetmyer making 61 and Shai Hope making 45 runs. For India, Arshdeep Singh took 3 wickets and Kuldeep Yadav scalped two wickets.
In reply, Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal hammered the Windies bowlers to all parts of the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium Turf Ground, Lauderhill as they added a record equaling 165 runs for the opening wicket.
While Jaiswal remained unbeaten on 84 in 51 balls, Shubman Gill hammered 77 in 47 balls with 5 sixes and 3 fours as India won the match by 9 wickets and 18 balls to spare to level the series 2-2.
The knock was important for Gill, who was dismissed for 3, 7, and 6 in the first three T20Is but in the must-win game, the 23-year-old stepped up and helped India win the encounter in thumping fashion.
"In the first three matches, I could not even score 10, today (the) wicket was a bit better, so wanted to capitalise. Then when I got a good start, we just wanted to finish it. The T20 format is like that. When you have 3-4 matches where a good shot is caught by the fielder, and you are eyeing quick runs, you don't have time to think much," Gill said in a conversation with Punjab pacer and team-mate Arshdeep Singh after the fourth T20I.
"It's important to go to your basics. You just look at what your template was when you were consistently scoring runs. You have to identify whether you are making any mistakes. I felt I wasn't making a mistake in any of the three matches. But I couldn't convert my starts," he added.
The deciding T20I will be played on August 13, 2023, in Florida as well.
(PTI inputs)
