Watch: Shubman Gill provided India with an electric start in their Super Fours encounter against Pakistan in Colombo today (September 10), hitting Shaheen Afridi for six boundaries in the space of two overs.
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India were put into bat by Pakistan after losing the toss. After a probing first five balls by Shaheen Afridi, Rohit Sharma hit him for a six on the last ball of the first over, opening the floodgates for the innings.
While Naseem Shah, Afridi’s new ball partner was finding the hard lengths and enough movement to ask continuous questions of Rohit, Afridi struggled for early rhythm as Shubman Gill came out all guns blazing.
The first ball of Afridi’s second over was inside-edged to fine leg for four. However, the next five boundaries came off the middle of Gill’s bat. The second ball of the over was flicked over mid-wicket, while the fifth was driven through the off side for a crisp boundary.
Afridi’s next over saw Gill hit a hat-trick of beautiful drives. He danced down the track off the second ball and lofted a full delivery right over the bowler’s head. Afridi changed his angle and switched to round the wicket, but to no avail as the fifth and sixth balls of his third over, the fifth of the innings were driven through the off side, on either side of the cover fielder for two more boundaries.
At the end of the first five overs, India’s score read 37-0. Gill was batting on 25 off 13, 24 out of which had come through boundaries, all off the bowling of Afridi.
This marked the first occasion in Afridi’s ODI career that he was hit for seven or more boundaries inside the first five overs of the innings.
