Shubman Gill makes it a point to keep rotating the strike: Axar Patel – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

India all-rounder Axar Patel lavished praise on young opener Shubman Gill who scored 130 off 97 balls as India whitewashed Zimbabwe in the three ODIs. Riding high on Gill’s knock, India posted 289/8 after electing to bat first and secured a 13-run win. For his heroics with the bat in the series, Gill was awarded Player of the Series. Talking about Gill’s batting, Axar said the right-hander is rotating the strike regularly now.

“He is taking singles and twos more regularly and is not playing a lot of dot balls. I think that is his biggest positive. Whenever he bats, he makes it a point to keep rotating the strike. He also converts bad balls into boundaries. He also plays spinners very well and is very good with the sweep and reverse sweep,” Axar said in the post-match presser after the 3rd ODI.

Gill has been good touch with the bat since the West Indies ODIs and has made most of the limited opportunities he has got so far. Axar came up with a hillarious response when asked about how Gill is off the field.

“Itna serious nahi hai, jab batting karta hai toh serious ho jaata hai (He is not so serious. He gets serious while batting). He (Gill) jokes around with everyone. But mostly he enjoys with Ishan (Kishan), me and Avesh (Khan),” Axar added.

The Men in Blue will now shift focus to the shortest format as they battle for Asian supremacy in the Asia Cup which begins on August 27. The tournament will see regulars Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya return to the squad after they were rested for the three-ODI series in Zimbabwe.