ICC World Cup: Shubman Gill to miss Afghanistan match
Shubman Gill will remain on the sidelines for India's second 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup clash against Afghanistan on Wednesday (October 11). The in-form opener, who tested positive for dengue, missed the opener against Australia as well. BCCI, on Monday, confirmed his unavailability for the Afghanistan game. He will stay back in Chennai and won't travel with the team, Here are further details.
Here is what BCCI said
"Shubman Gill will not be traveling with the team to Delhi on 9th October 2023. He is set to miss the team's next fixture against Afghanistan in Delhi on the 11th of October," stated BCCI. Notably, India's third game is against Pakistan on October 14 in Ahmedabad. The team management would want Gill to regain fitness for the important fixture.
Kishan opened in Gill's absence
With Gill being unavailable, Ishan Kishan opened alongside Rohit Sharma in the Australia game. Though India went on to win the game by six wickets, both openers and Shreyas Iyer bagged ducks. Kishan, however, is expected to continue at the opening slot till Gill returns. Though India have another opening option in KL Rahul, the wicketkeeper-batter is likely to continue at number five.
Leading run-getter in ODIs this year
Gill's unavailability is a massive dent in India's plans as the opener has enjoyed a dream run in 2023. He is the only batter with 1,000-plus ODI runs in 2023. The youngster has overall accumulated 1,230 runs in 20 ODIs this year at 72.35 (SR: 105.03). Five of his six ODI tons have come this year. The tally includes a double-hundred as well.
Here are his overall numbers
Gill, who made his ODI debut in 2019, has truly been sensational in the format. The right-handed batter has 1,917 runs from 35 ODIs at an incredible average of 66.10. His strike rate in the format reads 102.84. The tally includes six tons and nine fifties with the double ton (208) versus New Zealand being his best score.
Gill has the second-best batting average in ODIs
Gill's current ODI average of 66.10 is the second-highest among batters with at least 1,000 runs. He is only behind the former Netherlands all-rounder Ryan ten Doeschate (67). Among Indians, Virat Kohli follows Gill on the list with an average of 57.5. The second-ranked batter in ODIs, Gill is only 18 rating points behind the top-ranked Babar Azam, who owns 857 points.
