“Maximize the balls as much as possible” - Aakash Chopra cautions Shreyas and Gill for slowing down ahead of ton in IND vs AUS 2nd ODI

Aakash Chopra cautioned Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill for slowing down the scoring rate while approaching their respective hundreds in the second ODI against Australia in Indore on Sunday. Chopra stated that while the deceleration did not have an impact on the game, the efforts of batters in white ball cricket should be to maximize the deliveries on offer.

India thumped Australia by 99 runs [DLS method] in the second ODI in Indore. Batting first, the Men in Blue put up 399/5 as Shreyas scored 105 off 90 balls and Gill 104 off 97 deliveries. However, India scored only 52 runs between the 20th and 30th over despite not losing a wicket.

Although the hosts won the match with ease in the end, Chopra brought up the point [3:00] of India not batting fast enough in the 10-over period during the middle overs.

The former Indian batter said on his YouTube channel:

“Gill was quiet at the start and the storm came from the other end. The interesting part of the partnership was that between 20 and 30 overs, only 52 runs were scored. We did not lose any wickets and it was not as if Australia had started bowling really well. Both batters were approaching their respective hundreds and took their time, so too many runs did not come during that period."

“In this match, it’s okay. Shreyas Iyer is coming back from injury and wants to score runs. When you look back, you can say that India won by 99 runs. But the effort should be to maximize the balls as much as possible. Instead of 52, if we had scored 70-75 runs in the 20-30 over period, India’s score would have been 425,” Chopra opined.

Following Shreyas and Gill’s exit, skipper KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav accelerated the innings. While Rahul scored 52 off 38, Suryakumar thumped an unbeaten 72 off 37 balls.

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“This guy knows the white ball template” - Chopra on Gill

With his sixth ODI hundred on Sunday, Gill carried on his tremendous form in international cricket. The elegant batter has played some spectacular knocks in recent months, particularly in limited-overs cricket.

Praising Gill, Chopra commented:

“Shubman Gill likes this ground a lot as well. In the last match he played here, he had scored a hundred. He also features in the top two partnerships here - the first with Rohit and the second now with Shreyas Iyer. This guy knows the white ball template and I have no doubt he is the future world superstar in the batting department.”

Gill has so far smashed 1917 runs in 35 ODI at an excellent average of 66.10.