Gill, who is also the captain of his IPL team Gujarat Titans, told that he has changed his team’s batting strategy.
Gill told in the pre-match press conference, “I have decided that I and my partner Abhishek Sharma will open the batting, while Ruturaj Gaikwad will come at number three. This will be our batting start.”
Gill also expressed that he is interested in opening, as he is used to opening the batting in T20 from the first days.
He said, “Rohit Bhai and Virat Bhai opened in the World Cup and I also start from there. So, I think I would like to start my career there.”
The match of this tour is a new challenging guidance for India, especially after the retirement of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Gill described them both as “idols and legends of Indian cricket” and said that it is a big responsibility for him to stake a claim to fill their place.
Gill expressed about this, “I think there is always pressure and expectations. But if I try to reach what I have achieved for India, it will be very difficult for me. Every player has his own goal, like where he wants to reach.”
Gill also talked about his team, “So there is a lot of pressure. If you want to reach where other people have reached, there is more pressure on you. But there is no pressure in what they have achieved or what they have done for India, because they are both idols and legends of Indian cricket.”
The new players joining the Indian team in this T20I series include Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Tushar Deshpande, B. Sai Sudarshan and Harshit Rana. These players are coached by National Cricket Academy (NCA) head VVS Laxman.
Gill said about this, “Yes, there is definitely a lot of excitement, because there are many young players here who will be playing for the first time. It is always exciting when you see new players coming and making their debut and performing well. So in that sense, yes, there is a lot of excitement in the team to come here and perform well.”
“If you look at the team, it is very different from the team that played in the World Cup. There are many young players in the team, including me. Therefore, we want to give experience to the players and teach them what it is like to play at the international level.”
Gill said about India’s goals in the Zimbabwe series, “Because many players have not played too many matches and some players have not even made their debut. So our goal for this series is to give them as much international experience and experience as possible.”
He said, “The conditions will be very challenging, because everyone is coming from different time zones. But I think it is the same challenge. We have been practicing here for two or three days. So, we are used to the conditions here, and some of the players played here two years ago when we came here for one day. So, I think it will be a good series here.”
He said, “I think Zimbabwe has a good T20 team. The last time we played ODIs (in 2022), even the last ODI we played was very close for us and we know it is not going to be different. The way the Zimbabwean players are going to play against us will not be different from any other country and that is the challenge for us.”
He said, “I learnt a lot when I captained my IPL team for the first time. I learnt a lot about myself and my approach to leadership. I felt most of the challenges you face as a captain are mental, like how you prepare the boys because everyone has a skill set. It’s about how you can give them the confidence to be able to deliver that skill set on the field.”
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