Punjab colts shine on England tour

Chandigarh : Punjab cricketers Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma have come out with flying colours in their first overseas test in the India Under-19 team’s tour of England. The team won its first four-day game against England U-19 by 334 runs and registered a 97-run win in the second game. In the 50-over series, the Indian colts whitewashed England 5-0. Gill emerged the Man of the Series with 278 runs in four matches and chipped in with three wickets with his off-spin.
Gill’s first overseas experience turned out to be fruitful as the right-hander scored one century in the four-day series, and followed it up with a century and another half-century in the limited-overs series. He was the highest run-scorer for the Indian team on the tour.
“It got more comfortable as the tour progressed. I got a century (102) in the second innings of the second ‘Test’. It boosted my confidence and I was able to score 147 and 66 in the last two 50-over matches,” Gill said. The No. 3 batsman also took three wickets in the last two matches of the tour. He was also declared the Man of the Match in the third One-dayer. “I had been bowling in the nets for quite some time and I had a fair idea of what to do,” the 17-year-old added.