‘Gill has the same gift like Dhoni…’: Manjrekar makes big prediction about Shubman Gill

Manjrekar praised Gill’s ability to hit big sixes and compared him of India’s most-successful captain MS Dhoni. He said the Punjab lad has the same gift of hitting sixes straight down the ground like the former wicketkeeper-batter. In his strike-filled knock, Gill hammered 19 fours and nine sixes in his 149-balls innings. Gill’s quick-fire 208 helped India to register a thrilling 12-run win over New Zealand.

“When I saw Dhoni the first time that he mostly hit straight sixes told me that he will be consistent when it comes to big hitting. Gill has the same gift. Fingers crossed for him,” Manjarekar tweeted.

Gill became the youngest batsman to score 200 in an ODI. He is the fifth Indian and eighth batter overall to score a double century in ODIs. Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Chris Gayle, Martin Guptill, Fakhar Zaman, and Ishan Kishan on the elusive list.

In his multiple record-breaking innings, he also surpassed Sachin Tendulkar to become the highest scorer against New Zealand in ODIs. He was named the Player of the Match for his record-breaking double-century.

He also became the fastest Indian cricketer to score 1,000 ODI runs. The right-hander batter overtook Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan, who jointly held the previous record at 24 innings to become the fastest Indian and the joint-second fastest ever to 1,000 runs mark in ODIs. He equalled Pakistan opener Iman-ul-Haq for breaching the 1000-run mark in 19 innings while missing out on another Pakistan opener Fakhar Zaman’s record of fastest to 1000 ODI runs in 18 innings.