Mumbai: Young gun Shubman Gill believes his partnership with Rohit Sharma could prove vital in India’s home ICC Men's Cricket World Cup campaign in October and November.
The pair are off to a prolific start together in ODI cricket, compiling 685 runs at 76.11 in the nine instances batting together in the format.
Taking out their only partnership together while not opening the batting, their average partnership jumps to 85.37.
The combination’s output will be no doubt important in India’s Cricket World Cup campaign as the side look to emulate their success in 2011, an ICC report on Wednesday said.
“It feels great to be able to open with him, especially knowing that all the focus is on him,” Gill began, looking to Rohit’s presence in the eyes of opponents and fans.
“He's someone who likes the other batters to go and just express himself and play the way I want to play the game," Gill said.
“So in that nature, he gives the players full freedom for how they want to express their game,” Gill said.
The sentiment bears similarity to the words fellow newcomer Yashasvi Jaiswal received after making a century on Test debut in July.
The 21-year-old made 171 against the West Indies in Dominica, and skipper Rohit revealed some of the advice he gave during the early stages of their outing.
"In the middle, it was just about having a chat, letting him know, 'You belong here'," Rohit recalled.
“That is the most important thing, because when you're playing your first Test match, you kind of keep asking yourself whether you belong here or not.”
Not only does Rohit instill this belief in Gill as well, their style of play in white-ball cricket, even as two right-handers, mean they are a dangerous combination.
The pair have passed fifty in six of eight opening stands, also putting on 143 against Sri Lanka in Guwahati, and 212 against New Zealand at Indore earlier in the year.
Having different plans of attack in their batting and different scoring strengths has proved fruitful, making life difficult for opposition bowlers and captains, forced to formulate different plans for each of them.
“I think because his (Rohit’s) targeted areas are a bit different (to mine). He loves to go aerial in the Powerplay,” Gill added when discussing their contrasting styles of play.
“And I'm someone who likes to find the gaps and keep getting those boundaries, and he’s someone who likes to hit sixes," he said.
“So I think that combination works well,” Gill said.
The pair will link up at the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka before their home three-match ODI series against Australia to build into the World Cup.
They then meet Australia again to begin their Cricket World Cup campaign in Chennai on October 8. (UNI)