NEW DELHI:
Shubman Gill scored his maiden century to lift India to 272/9 against Pakistan in the semifinal of the ICC Under-19 World Cup in Christchurch on Monday. Just 48 hours after being snapped up by IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders for Rs 1.8 crore, coming in at the fall of India's first wicket, Gill remained unbeaten on 102 and in the process, overtook his skipper
Prithvi Shaw's 94 for highest individual score by an Indian in the tournament. With the century, Gill took his personal tally to 341 runs in the tournament with an average of over 150.
ALSO READ: India v Pakistan, Under 19 World Cup, Live BlogGill got good support, first from Harvik Desai and later from Anukul Roy, and struck 50-run partnerships with both. He built on a solid foundation laid by openers Shaw and
Manjot Kalra, who had put on 89 runs for the opening wicket before Shaw was run-out for 41. Pakistan struggled on the field, missing almost half a dozen run out chances and dropping two catches.
ALSO READ: Meet India's Under-19 millionaire brigadeShaw and Kalra started off with a breeze, bringing up India's 50 inside eight overs before Pakistan finally scored a run-out. Responding to a risky Single, Shaw took off and even put in the dive but couldn't ground his bat properly. India suffered a second jolt soon after when Muhammad Musa got his first wicket with Kalra inside edging a delivery to the wicketkeeper.
Pakistan's fast bowler Arshad Iqbal, who gave away 21 runs in his first three overs, came back strong in his second spell and reduced India to 166/5 by snaring three wickets in three overs – Desai, Riyan Parag and Abhishek Sharma. With Gill going great guns at the other end, he needed someone to support him and that came from Anukul. The left-arm spinner, who took 5/14 and 4/20 against Papua New Guinea and Zimbabwe respectively, struck some lusty blows and scored 33 off 45 before becoming Musa's second wicket of the day.
Anukul and Gill got together for 67 runs and that allowed Gill to go about his innings without fuss. Accelerating well in the final ten overs, Gill brought up his century off 93 balls as India finished on a pretty formidable score, one that looked difficult around the 35-over mark.