India managed to win the fourth T20I of the five-match series rather comfortably by 48 runs on the Gold Coast on Thursday, November 6 and took a 2-1 lead. It wasn't the most extravagant display of cricket at the Carrara Oval but the Men in Blue got the job done, even if it looked a bit ugly, with the ball on a sluggish surface. Since Australia were bowled out for 119, India's score of 167 looked like it was quite a lot, but the talking point of the game was vice-captain Shubman Gill's knock.
Gill started even quicker than his opening partner, Abhishek Sharma, who is always the first one to make the first dash, scoring 23 off the first 15 balls he faced. Gill had smashed four boundaries by then and looked really good, but in the next 20 balls he faced, the right-hander scored just 14 runs without a single boundary. Gill did hit a six before perishing but his knock of 46 off 39 was eventually a laboured one, which put the onus on the rest of the batters to try and score quickly.
Captain Suryakumar Yadav scored a 10-ball 20 and Axar Patel was unbeaten on 21 off just 11, however, the likes of Tilak Varma, Washington Sundar and Jitesh Sharma all lost their wickets in quick succession, with India losing the momentum in the latter part of their innings.
Eventually, 167 was enough for India, but anchoring the innings when the team is just one down until the 13th over felt a bit too long as there were no attempts to score a boundary after the powerplay, apart from that six off Marcus Stoinis. Then, there was a section of users who believed that if Gill hadn't scored those 46 off just 39, India may not have reached 167, since it wasn't the easiest of the batting wickets. Here's a look at some of the reactions:
Gill has scored 230 runs in 11 innings since his return to the T20I side from the Asia Cup onwards and averages 25.56. Despite Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sanju Samson waiting in the wings, Gill with the vice-captaincy tag might have his spot safe for now, but may not be an automatic pick for every T20I match India plays just yet. He definitely has the series decider in Australia to improve upon his numbers for sure, at the Gabba on Saturday.
