Watch: Shubman Gill scored his maiden T20 hundred during Punjab’s 2022 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy quarter-final match against Karnataka, notching 126 off 55 balls a day after he was given a maiden T20I call-up.
Gill edged ahead of Prithvi Shaw to find a place in India’s T20I squad for the upcoming series against New Zealand. The youngster, who has a career strike rate in the late 120s, had scored 17 fifties in 93 T20 games before Tuesday. He has never struck at a rate above 135 in his last four IPL seasons, and his selection in the Indian squad was the topic of much debate.
However, he silenced his critics just a few hours after he was named for the upcoming tour. Playing the quarter-final at Eden Gardens, Gill was batting on two off eight at one point but managed to accelerate wonderfully, reaching his fifty in 30 balls.
He took off thereafter, smashing 76 in his next 25 balls, also bringing up his maiden century in the format off 49 deliveries. Gill’s knock contained 11 fours and as many as nine sixes, as he finished with a strike rate of 229.09, with Punjab scoring 225-4 on the board.
In reply, Karnataka fell only nine short, the efforts of Abhinav Manohar (62 in 29) and Manoj Bhandage (25 in nine) not proving to be enough.
