Abhishek Sharma smashed a scintillating 54-ball 135 in the fifth and final T20I between India and England, finishing as the highest run-scorer of the series as well. With this, Abhishek overtook Team India’s ODI vice-captain and Shubman Gill’s record of the highest individual T20I score by an Indian as well. Abhishek’s stunning form adds another opening contender for India in limited overs cricket, alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal in Test cricket. With Jaiswal and Abhishek doing well, Gill is in a scramble for a spot at the top of the order, but he said that there is no “toxic competition” between the three.

“Abhishek is a childhood of friend of mine. Jaiswal is also a friend, I don’t think there is any toxic competition between us. Obviously if you are playing for the country, you want to perform in every match, and not think that ‘I wish this guy doesn’t perform’. You are playing for the country and for the team and whosoever performs you congratulate them,” Shubman Gill said.
Gill, however, is expected to partner Rohit Sharma at the top order in the Champions Trophy 2025 as well. And, the spotlight will be on senior players like Rohit and Kohli, who have struggled with the bat in recent times as well. However, Gill applauded skipper’s sensational form in white-ball cricket, which played a key role in India reaching the 2023 ODI World Cup final as well.
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“The way Rohit bhai has been batting in the ODIs in the past one year and a half, it’s been really game-changing for us.”Taking the momentum right through from the start and taking the game away form ball one and it makes the job of the non-striker and the batsmen coming in a bit easier and I think it has helped our team a lot.”

However, Gill also backed India’s performance in the Test series loss in Australia.
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“I think, one series can’t define the form of a team. We have done a lot of good things in the past, consistently and continuously,” Gill said on India’s 3-1 loss in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. “Definitely, we have not done what we wanted to do in the Australian series. But still, I think we have done some things right. We had the chance to draw and even win the series. If we would have won the series or even managed to draw it, we would not have been talking about this. It is unfair to criticise the team’s performance. We have won a World Cup (T20) and prior to that we reached the final of the ODI World Cup. We must consider those performances as well.”
“I think we are playing against a good side. We are not taking this as a practice for the Champions Trophy, I think it is a very important series for us and we are looking to dominate and win this series,” Shubman Gill concluded.