World Cup 2023: Was disappointed to miss out on opportunities, says Shubman Gill after comeback from dengue

Young opener Shubman Gill revealed that he was disappointed to miss India’s first two matches of the World Cup 2023 as he was battling dengue in that phase. Gill, however, is happy to hit the ground running since making his comeback (and World Cup debut) in Ahmedabad, notching his first half-century of the tournament.

Shubman Gill missed India’s first two matches against Australia and Afghanistan, but returned in the third against Pakistan, scoring all 16 of his runs via boundaries. Gill smashed five fours and a pair of sixes in his 53 from 55 balls against Bangladesh on Thursday, while also doing plenty of running between wickets in an 88-run opening partnership with captain Rohit Sharma.

“(It) obviously felt nice,” Gill said about his first fifty at a World Cup.

“When I was a little sick, I was feeling a bit disappointed on missing out on those opportunities, but definitely felt nice to get some game-time.

“I think you have to be mentally willing to go out there and that’s what I was thinking when I was there,” he added of his illness. Lost a few kilos in the process but hopefully I’ll be able to gain that back.”

India have completed four successful run-chases to extend their perfect World Cup 2023 record to 4-0 and the team management will be relieved to have Gill fit and in form ahead of Sunday’s blockbuster against 2019 runners-up New Zealand, the only other team yet to taste defeat.

Sandwiched in the batting order between the captain and one of India’s all-time greats, Gill can’t help but learn a few things.

“You can see how confident they are, the way they are scoring runs,” he said.

“Definitely, I think this is one of the things which was talked about, especially leading up to the World Cup, that we were not chasing that well, those big totals.

“But I think having won all the four matches while chasing, I think it’s a great way to have that momentum with us in those big games that we’ll have moving forward.”