Shubman Gill was definitely at his best during the crucial Asia Cup 2023 Super 4 match against Pakistan at R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday. The right-handed batter took a single off the first ball he faced but later on he went berserk and star Pakistan pacer Shaheen Afridi was at the receiving end. Gill hit a four off the second ball he faced in his innings and went on hit more two fours in the over that was bowled by Shaheen. However, that was not the end. When Shaheen came to bowl again, Gill smashed him for three fours — for the second time in the game — to make it another big over for India.
That forced Pakistan captain Babar Azam to remove Shaheen from the attack.
Soon after Gill’s show against the star bowler, the fans filled social media with a lot of memes trolling the left-arm Pakistan pacer Shaheen.
Watch some of the memes here:
Shubman Gill smashing Shaheen Afridi in Asia cup right now!#INDvsPAK pic.twitter.com/alDbYVG1tq
— Vishal Verma (@VishalVerma_9) September 10, 2023
Shubman Gill owns Shaheen Afridipic.twitter.com/jGofbxUT8j
— Arun Singh (@ArunTuThikHoGya) September 10, 2023
Shubham Gill to Shaheen Afridi Today#INDvsPAK #ShubmanGill pic.twitter.com/MB3KCbTolg
— (@ItsAayan_69) September 10, 2023
Shubman Gill to Shaheen Afridi pic.twitter.com/myfOrJEPyu
— Abhishek (@be_mewadi) September 10, 2023
Shaheen Afridi after bowling to Shubman Gill today pic.twitter.com/jqQVhm73i3
— Ankit Pathak (@ankit_acerbic) September 10, 2023
Gill raced to his half-century in only 37 balls. It was his eighth fifty in the format.
Shaheen eventually got the wicket of Gill on the latter’s score of 58 off 52 balls.
KL Rahul made his return after being named in India’s playing XI for the blockbuster Asia Cup Super 4 clash against Pakistan. Rahul, who has been out of action since May 2023 due to a hamstring issue, replaced Shreyas Iyer in the playing XI, with Jasprit Bumrah also coming in place of Mohammed Shami.
This comes after reports emerged that Rahul will replace in-form wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan in the XI. Kishan scored 82 in the group stage match against Pakistan, which was washed out due to rain last week.
At the toss, Rohit confirmed both Rahul and Kishan will play against Pakistan.
“Looking to bat first. There will be a challenge upfront, but the way we guys batted last time around gives us confidence. Every game is important for us, but one thing at a time to focus on. (On rain delays) That’s the nature of the sport, it gave us good time to prepare and now we’ll look to play well. Two changes – Bumrah is back and one forced change, Shreyas Iyer just got a back spasm so KL Rahul comes in for him,” Rohit said at the toss.
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