The walk from the dugout to the pitch at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad must be pulsating when you're such a crowd favourite. And not just on a World Cup final weekend.
A bilateral Wednesday too can get racy here. The multi-tiered stands tower over and dwarf you, and even at nearly half the capacity, there are about 50,000 people. Virat Kohli strode out with a familiar purposeful gait - big, jumpy strides finishing with a mock drive - to a rousing reception from such a population in only the second over.
On a belter of a surface, the floor was his to dust out the cobwebs that had settled on his batting form before heading to Dubai for the Champions Trophy, like Rohit Sharma did in Cuttack.
Mark Wood, however. was intent on ruining it in a fiery opening burst of four overs. After squaring up Rohit Sharma with a 142kmph ball that straightened off the pitch, he troubled Kohli with more pace. Wood beat the bat, and stung him on the arm too as India tried to navigate past a tricky start. Shubman Gill diffused the early tension in the ninth over, when he gave Saqib Mahmood the charge for a quick jab over mid-on.
Jos Buttler's decision to take Wood off the attack eased Kohli in, while Gill actively looked for runs to give India a good finish to a slightly subdued PowerPlay.
He accentuated the period with a pristine on-drive off Gus Atkinson in the 10th over and Kohli got in on the run-making too as Buttler fiddled with his bowling options - bringing on Joe Root before Adil Rashid.
Gill put his understanding of the conditions and more crucially, the dimensions of the venue to access the square boundaries against Atkinson. He launched a full ball from the pacer over long-on for a six that forced the latter to pull back his lengths for the rest of the over. He then punished one that was too short with a pull for four.
Rashid soon arrived to prey on Kohli's tentativeness against leg spin.
He got the ball to turn sharply too, as Kohli started to be a touch circumspect in his approach. Kohli survived an LBW shout and nurdled around during this mini-tussle while Gill eked out a square cut when Rashid erred with his length in the slightest, to reach his third successive half-century.
Gill then comfortably converted that to triple figures, while Kohli fell nicking a Rashid ball behind for 52. There's been an air of inevitability about Gill's batting in the last one week in the 50-overs format as he followed scores of 87 (Nagpur) and 60 (Cuttack) with a fine 112.
"Definitely," Gill said at the presentation ceremony when asked if this was the best he was batting in ODIs. "I was feeling good. I think this was one of the better knocks in ODIs for me.
The pitch was a bit tricky at the start so it's satisfying," he added.
Since the start of 2023, Gill has scored 1900 runs in 35 innings at an average of 61.29. In this period, only Sri Lanka opener Pathum Nissanka has a better tally of runs - 25 more but in 10 more innings (1925 in 45). Gill, who has been around the Indian team setup since 2019, has made a name for himself as one of the more technically gifted cricketers. In ODIs, he's enhanced that with an aspect that has eluded him in Tests - consistent runs.
Cracking a format as tough as Tests might need more time but a Test average of 35.06 in 32 outings doesn't do justice to the potential and skill he brings to the table.
It has made him dispensable in the format, including during the recent tour of Australia, but in ODIs there's a truckload of trust.
"A lot of the feedback comes from the dressing room. You also want to keep your options open. One of the challenges is that not many are leading their state teams nowadays... but you are always on the lookout for anyone who has got some leadership qualities," chief selector Ajit Agarkar had said about Gill being the vice-captain ahead of the other options before the England ODIs.
The think-tank had handed this responsibility to Gill on the tour of Sri Lanka last July - the first under head coach Gambhir. It was also the first series in more than a year where Gill underperformed (57 runs in three ODIs).
The retention of faith in him as vice-captain in a Champions Trophy year is also crucial, putting him in any possible succession plans that could be set in motion in the near future as the incumbent skipper Rohit - who retired from T20Is last year - turns 38 in April. For his part, Gill shrugged off the rare dip in the midst of his extended purple patch and continued to bring a sense of calm and consistency from one end while Rohit and Kohli found their way back among runs.
