U19 WC 2018: Shubman Gill set to finish with a magical average

Shubman Gill’s consistency with the bat has been one of the most talking points in the ongoing Under-19 World Cup as the Indian top order batsman has played some crucial knocks in the big matches to guide his team into the finals. Shubman scored at least a fifty in all the four innings he batted in the tournament with his best coming in the semis against Pakistan where he struck an unbeaten 102. With the 341 runs so far, the 18-year-old is currently averaging 170.50 and standing at the 2nd position in leading run-getters list of the tournament.

By virtue of his four consecutive fifty-plus scores, Shubman became the 2nd player after Mehedy Hasan Miraz to achieve this feat in the U19 World Cup. Coming into the tournament, Gill scored fifty-plus in his last two Youth ODI innings as the hundred he scored against Pakistan made him the first player in to score fifty and more in six consecutive innings in the Youth ODI cricket. At the end of the game, Shubman is currently aggregating 1118 runs in 14 Youth ODI innings at an average of 103.23 with four hundreds and six fifties.

Even a duck in the final doesn’t harm Shubman’s average:

India will face Australia in the final on Saturday which could also be the last match in the Youth ODI format for their current crop of players. After the entry of Rahul Dravid into the supporting staff of India Under-19 side, no player is allowed to play the U19 CWC more than once which wasn’t the same case earlier. Shubman Gill will have a great chance of finishing his Youth ODI career with an average of 100+. Gill doesn’t need to do anything for achieving that rare feat as he will end with 100+ average even if he bags a duck in the final.

With Shubman remaining unbeaten in the semi-final, he has assured himself of ending this format with a three-figure average. Had the Indian No.3 batsman got out in this game, he would have needed to score 82 runs or remain unbeaten even without scoring in the final match to finish with 100+ average. Shubman achieved a batting average of 50.25 at end of his 4th innings; the lowest in his career of 14 innings so far. In the quarter-finals, Gill completed 1000 runs in Youth ODI cricket and became the quickest to do so by reaching in his only the 13th innings.

Except for Shubman, no player has scored 1000 runs at 100+ average in a format in Men’s, Women’s and U19 Internationals. Sir Donald Bradman came close to that magic figure with a career batting average of 99.94 in the Test format. Bradman needed four runs to complete 7000 Test runs and secure an average of 100 when he walked out to bat in his final Test match. However, he bagged a duck in what turned out to be his last Test innings and narrowly missed the mark.