Following India's T20I series win in Zimbabwe, Shubman Gill has praised the intense competition for the opener's slot, saying it's a "good thing" for the team.
Gill, who led India's second-string team to a 4-1 series victory, was the top run-scorer in the series. He opened the batting alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal in the last three matches, and their partnership was a key factor in India's success.
For the major part of the series, India played as many as four openers in the playing eleven and all of them did well including Gill, Jaiswal, Abhishek Sharma, and Ruturaj Gaikwad.
For the first two games, he opened with Punjab teammate Abhishek Sharma who scored a hundred and a fifty in his debut series. Among the four openers, Gill had the lowest strike rate, 125.92, compared to Jaiswal's 165.88, Gaikwad's 158.33, and Abhishek's 174.64.
"It's a good thing that everyone's performing. It shows that everyone is hungry and nobody is ready to take it easy. For any country or board, that's always a good thing," said Gill on Sunday referring to the openers.
Following the retirement of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli from T20Is, the selectors will have a problem of plenty when it comes to picking the openers for the Sri Lanka series.
"Anyone who got the opportunity grabbed it with both hands. The openers to bowlers to all-rounders to spinners, everyone made a mark and I think the selectors have now seen everything and it's up to them to name the squad for the next series," he said after India's 4-1 series win over Zimbabwe.
On captaining the team through the series, Gill said he enjoyed every bit of the challenge.
"One thing about captaincy I feel is how much confidence you can show in your players. I try to do that and make them believe that if you try and execute the plans, the results will always follow," Gill said.
"After losing the first match, we were under a bit of pressure. It's not easy to play back-to-back games and the series was planned in a way that there were two back-to-back games, a couple of days rest, and then again back-to-back games."
"It's never easy playing a series like that but I think the way we came back after losing the first T20I was remarkable."
India bounced back to win the series 4-1 after losing the opener.
"Seeing everyone hungry and so quickly adapting to the situation and assessing the conditions was truly spectacular to watch," said Gill.
With the ball moving around in the powerplay, the opener thought it was important to be a little cautious early in the innings.
"I think, as per the conditions of the wicket, there were some challenging conditions, especially in the powerplay, the ball was always doing something or the other. As an opening batter, my focus was to see out 4-5 overs and not concede any wicket," he added.
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