'His white ball cricket over the last three or four years has been outstanding.'
Legendary Australia cricketer Ricky Ponting has labelled opener Shubman Gill as a “very driven guy” and future India captain.
Gill, currently the ODI vice-captain, is in red-hot form in the 50-over format. He made a bright beginning in the ongoing Champions Trophy with a hundred in India's six-wicket win over Bangladesh.
“We've had a chance to catch up over the last couple of years, particularly around the IPL season. I like his demeanour. He seems like a very driven guy who wants to be the best that he possibly can be with batting and also as far as leadership's concerned,” Ponting told ICC Review.
“He just seems like a really nice character. A really softly spoken guy, very driven for what he wants to achieve in the game,” Ponting said.
The former Australia captain said the One-day format suits Gill's style of batting, and hoped the 25-year-old will soon translate that success into Test cricket.
“He's been a very, very good international player for a number of years. He hasn't sort of transferred that over into Test match cricket yet, but his white ball cricket over the last three or four years has been outstanding.
“Look, he's a big game player as well. He's played really well in IPLs over the last couple of years, obviously being captain of his franchise,” added the Australian.
Ponting, a two-time 50-over World Cup-winning captain, then explained why Gill is excellent in ODI cricket.
“I just think that the white ball game really suits his style of play. He can come out and be nice and aggressive early on in the Powerplay with the field up, get some boundaries away early by playing good, naturally aggressive cricketing shots.
“He's not a big hitter, he's not anyone that goes out there and tries to do anything outside of the way that he can naturally play. He just scores boundaries almost at will against fast bowling, against the white ball.”
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