Shubman Gill reveals why his opening partnership with Rohit Sharma can be successful at World Cup

Young Indian batter Shubman Gill believes his opening partnership with Rohit Sharma will be crucial in India’s home ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup campaign in October and November.

Gill and Rohit as a pair are off to a brilliant start together in ODI cricket, adding 685 runs at 76.11 in the nine instances batting together in the format. Taking out their only partnership together while not opening the batting, their average partnership jumps to 85.37.

“It feels great to be able to open up with him, especially knowing that all the focus is on him. He’s someone who likes the other batters to go and just express himself and play the way I want to play the game. So in that nature, he gives the players full freedom for how they want to express their game,” Gill told ICC.

Shubman Gill has adapted well to international cricket, particularly the 50-over format, where he has averaged 62.47 in 27 appearances. The graceful hitter has also scored four centuries, including a double century against New Zealand in one-day internationals.

In ODIs, on the other hand, Rohit Sharma needs no introduction, having set multiple records over his illustrious career. The Indian captain is the first hitter in the format to have three double tonnes, and he became the only cricketer to have five hundreds in a World Cup during the 2019 edition.

The notion is similar to what fellow newbie Yashasvi Jaiswal was told after scoring a century on his Test debut in July.

The 21-year-old scored 171 against the West Indies in Dominica, and skipper Rohit shared some of the advice he delivered during the team’s early innings.

“In the middle, it was just about having a chat, letting him know, ‘You belong here’,” Rohit recalled.

“That is the most important thing, because when you’re playing your first Test match, you kind of keep asking yourself whether you belong here or not.”