Shubman Gill: Chasing greatness in a mismatched world

It had been mere moments since Shubman Gill reached his double-century, and unfurled a three-in-one celebration, that the cover of blue at the Guwahati stadium slowly started receding.

Years ago, Indian fans exiting an ODI early would usually mean an impending loss, often at the hands of a superior travelling team. But this is not that India. And this is not that one-day cricket.

It was running close to 10pm, and the relentless run-scoring of the previous eight hours had satiated the appetite for most. Overstuffed them even. Like a grand dinner you can't have every day.

A couple of spectators, peering from the balcony overlooking deep third, tried to catch John Campbell's attention. He couldn't bother less, pushing his weary legs in and out of the circle. It was the same afternoon Campbell was raising his bat to the very crowd. A 65-ball century against India would be the highlight of most careers. A quick scroll on the broadcaster's app doesn't even show him as the night's top highlight.

By the time Gill had taken off his helmet one final time for the evening, setting his hair as if to not be a disappointing subject to shutterbugs, several bowlers had been numbed on either side of an 811-run aggregate.

The mismatch was best summed up by the head coach himself, who refused to lose the bigger picture in the euphoria of a record chase. "It was batting, it was not cricket".

Gill very nearly chopped on in the first over, and the whole discourse could have been different. But there was barely any chance for the West Indies thereafter. On these pitches, Gill can bat in his sleep, the exactness of each stroke seems to never lose shape or quality. Twice in five nights now, he has been flipping the pages of a batting manual on the popping crease.

The Guwahati chase was mightier and needed a quicker start. The wicket was flatter, slightly slower to the first, one side was shorter than the other. Before him, three others had already reeled off centuries. But Gill marched along quicker than the rest, the perfect union of calculation and attack. Along came some ridiculously gorgeous hits, anticipated early, delivered emphatically.

Against pace, he kept his shape, played on the rise when the pitch offered some ping, but crunched a flurry of grounded hits all along the mat. Even to wristspinner Vitel Lawes, who wasn't immediately easy to score off, Gill was able to read early and adjust.

At no point did he look ugly hoicking anything: we've seen it enough in the IPL, under lights, and especially on a good batting surface, Gill's strokes float with poetic disdain.

Accomplishing a 400-run chase from start to finish isn't just about the frequency of hits: it requires unshakeable concentration and the stamina to bat through without losing tempo at any point. Deep into his innings, Gill had to be given stretches by the physio. "Every part of me is cramping right now," he said after the game, but even in the latter stages, the ramrod stance did not break, each shot delivered with immaculate neatness.

At 207, about 90 overs on the field and hit by cramps, he was able to wristily dispatch a six to midwicket with the ease of a finger flicking a matchstick.

Gill is now the only one with multiple ODI double tons after Rohit Sharma, who partnered alongside him through a 255-run opening stand. Rohit rode the bounce early of the tall opening trio, punished the erratic offerings of Keemo Paul, and picked his battles against spinners. Virat Kohli couldn't go big, but even for the massive crowd with '18' on their backs, a masterful ODI chase meant they weren't disappointed.

Like any great ODI batter, Gill breaks down the target into smaller parts. He was aiming for 200-210 by the 25-over mark but ended up 20 runs higher. It overshadowed three very special efforts in the first innings, capitalising on the same flatbed, and relentlessly punishing phases of sub-par bowling and fielding.

At the end of it all, the Guwahati ODI, essentially a back-to-back sequence of five T20Is innings, would be remembered as that Gill ODI. And to think the next one comes at his home ground.

It's a pity that the volume of matches will never allow Shubman Gill to compete with all-time great ODI stats. He operates effortlessly at the tempo modern run-making requires, and has married consistency across the larger part of three years.

He turned 27 this September; by that age, Sachin Tendulkar had already crossed 10,000 runs in the format, playing nearly four times the number of matches. This June, Gill was the second-fastest to 3,000 ODI runs, 13 innings faster than Kohli. Even with that mismatched volume, Gill's impact on the format so far is significant.

But in celebrating Gill's feats, the larger mismatch cannot be overlooked. Bowlers were essentially reduced to cannon fodder, fed to the gluttony of batters in either camp. Just like Gambhir, West Indies bowling coach Ravi Rampaul said the pitch had "nothing for the spinners, nothing for the quicks".

Even as pitches get flatter in most places, Gill's period of consistency has largely operated in and around home conditions. In the last three years, he has played only three games in Australia with a highest of 24. He's never played ODIs in South Africa, one of the World Cup hosts. And he goes to New Zealand next having last visited them in 2022, recording one fifty in five games so far.

Nothing takes away Gill's incredible display on Wednesday, a testament to his endurance and hunger. It also sets him up for the next phase: as ODI captain and the top-ranked batter in the world, he heads into the World Cup high on expectations, and yet to be challenged by a fairer parity between ball and bat that other regions might offer.

A few ardent fans were still around an hour and a half after Gill was posing in the middle of the stadium, helmet on bat, acknowledging the cheers for his double ton. The cheers reignited when Gill appeared out of the stadium lobby to board the team bus, getting similar decibels to two other batting stars he often bats with.

On a day with little to celebrate for the bowlers, Gill shone over four other centurions, presenting a higher degree of control, an incredible range and an unremitting appetite to commandeer a mammoth chase. As he keeps chasing new heights in ODIs, his eventual greatness will be defined not necessarily by sheer volume of runs, but how consistent he stays when the odds aren't this stacked against bowlers.