Some of the best names in cricket took a while before getting their maiden ton. Shubman Gill earned his on Monday with enough talent and ability to prove that many more will follow
Shubman Gill celebrates after scoring a century during the third ODI cricket match between India and Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club on Monday. Pic/AFP
Shubman Gill must be a relieved young man after exorcising the demons of missing out on a three-figure score in international cricket.
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Gill, 22, smashed a 97-ball 130 in the third and final one-day international at Harare on Monday. His heart may have skipped a beat a few times after watching Zimbabwe’s centurion Sikandar Raza threatening to run away with the game. Interestingly, Gill literally played a hand in sending back Raza with a fine catch in the deep, off Shardul Thakur, holding on to the ball inches off the turf. What a bummer it would have been had his maiden international hundred gone in vain against a No.13-ranked team in ODI cricket. India (ranked No. 3) clinched the game by 13 runs.
Gill carved an unbeaten 82 while guiding India to a 10-wicket win in the first match of the series. In the previous ODI—against West Indies at Port of Spain he stayed unbeaten on 98, as India put up 225 in 36 overs during a rain-affected game. So, it was fair to expect a hundred from Gill. All through his previous 11 Tests and eight ODIs, he displayed his talent and ability.
The search for a maiden hundred can be excruciating for players and there have been cases when the first century has been a significant score.
There is perhaps no better example than Australian great Bob Simpson, whose first three-figure knock in Test cricket was a triple century.
Simpson went 29 Tests without a century, after having made his debut in 1957-58 in South Africa. In the first innings of the fourth Test of the 1964 Ashes at Old Trafford, he helped himself to 311, which included 109 on Day One. He was unbeaten at the end of the second day as well, with 265.
Interestingly, the right-handed opening batsman opened his Test century account only after becoming captain!
In the documentary Cricket in the 1960’s—Winds of Change, Simpson said he always promised himself that his first century would be a “biggie.”
Ian Chappell, who made his Test debut under Simpson against Pakistan in 1964-65, waited 10 Tests for his first century—151 against India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where he had made his debut three years ago.
He went on to score 13 more, with a highest of 196 against Pakistan at the Adelaide Oval in 1972-73.
The 151 against MAK Pataudi’s Indians was not followed up by some big scores, but in his autobiography Chappelli, he called it a knock that “almost certainly saved my bacon as an international cricketer.”
Chappell’s future teammate Bruce Laird presented an example of a player getting out in the 90s on Test debut (92 v West Indies at Brisbane in 1979-80) and ending his career without a Test century. Laird came into the side after World Series Cricket ended and did what he was instructed to do: “To see off the fast bowlers and make sure the later batsmen were not exposed to the new ball.” Those were Richie Benaud’s words in his report for a publication on the 1979-80 Tests in Australia.
A year before that Brisbane Test, India’s Dilip Vengsarkar broke his ton-less streak which spanned 16 Tests and scored his maiden Test hundred in the 30th Test innings of his career. At the Eden Gardens against the West Indies, Vengsarkar flayed a pace attack comprising Sylvester Clarke, Norbert Phillip, a green Malcolm Marshall and veteran Vanburn Holder for an unbeaten 157. He put on a record second wicket stand of 344 with his skipper Sunil Gavaskar (182 not out). Their teammate Mohinder Amarnath got his first Test hundred in his 15th Test. His 100 in the second innings of the 1977-78 Perth Test came after a 90 in the first innings.
By the 1984-85 home series against England, Amarnath was a player decorated with several honours—gallant batting shows in the 1982-83 series in Pakistan and West Indies—as well as man of the match-winning all-round performances in the 1983 World Cup semi-finals and final. But the 1984-85 Test series didn’t belong to India. The hosts—save the opening Test in Mumbai—were outclassed by David Gower’s Englishmen. Mike Gatting, the vice-captain of that side, had no hundred to show in his first 30 Tests in a career that began in 1977-78. Gatting got his maiden ton in the first Test and from a personal point of view, he was cock-a-hoop. The 54-innings wait for a Test hundred had ended. He scored a match-winning 207 later in the series at Chennai. He also got his maiden ODI century in Pune.
In a way, Gatting’s international career took off after 30 Tests. “David [Gower] had a big fight trying to get me on the tour in the first place because I hadn’t done so well in Test cricket. He got me on the trip as vice-captain, which was extraordinary. He said you will bat at No. 3. If it does not work out then you have to go in at four or five, but you will definitely play in all the Tests. So, get in there and do it. It worked out. That was a big show of faith in me,” Gatting told me in an interview at Mohali in 2006.
The right kind of words can be a great morale booster, but nothing to match the confidence a batsman gets by way of runs. Gill has had a good amount of them in recent times. And Monday’s maiden international hundred could well mean he’s got his meter well-oiled for more.
mid-day’s group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance.
He tweets @ClaytonMurzello. Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper.
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