Last Updated on 7 months ago by Charbel Coorey

Shubman Gill is often written off as a “regressive” T20 pick, dismissed as too slow for the format’s relentless pace. I disagree.

Since 2022, no batter has scored more runs in the IPL than Gill’s 2,249, notched at a strike rate of 149.79, outpacing even Jos Buttler’s 148.82. Critics, however, fixate on his T20I strike rate of 139.27, calling it underwhelming. Context is key here, since it is always king (or queen).

Two sluggish knocks – 39 off 37 in Pallekele and 31 off 29 in Harare – drag that number down. Here are the scorecards from those games:

A deeper look into the T20 career of Shubman Gill to date

In what remains a relatively small sample size in Shubman Gill’s young T20I career, just two such innings can skew the overall record, as they have, bringing his aggregate strike rate below 140. But when viewed in the right context, it’s not all that bad; those innings reflected the demands of the situations he faced. They were measured knocks, tailored to tricky situations, not aimless dawdling.

In T20Is involving Gill, top-order batters have averaged 25.07 at a strike rate of 133.95. This puts Gill’s average of 30.42 and strike rate of 139.27 into proper context. Gill has been above par.

That said, Gill is not flawless either. Since 2022 in the IPL, Gill has had a Powerplay strike rate of 137.2. Solid, but there’s room for improvement.

Breaking it down further, he’s struck at 132.61 against left-arm pace in the Powerplay, 3.06 below the average batter, and 136.47 against right-arm pace, 2.36 below the average.

In fact, Gill really comes into his own in the second half of the innings. Since 2022 in the IPL, his strike rate jumps from 139.3 in overs 1-10 to 176.7 in overs 11-20.

Abhishek (blue line) is evidently in a league of his own. Once he faces 10 balls, his strike rate soars past 200 and never really drops from that point onward.

Among Gill, Samson, and Jaiswal, it’s Jaiswal (red line) who gets out of the blocks the quickest, exactly what you want from a T20 opener. However, he oddly loses that momentum once the field spreads, slowing down after the Powerplay.

Gill (green line), however, is almost in cruise control — steadily, gradually ramping up without sharp spikes.

The obvious area of improvement for Gill is starting off quicker. That might come more naturally when he’s opening for India, where the batting depth and quality around him offer the freedom to take early risks — a luxury he hasn’t always had at Gujarat Titans.