Shubman Gill named ICC Player of the Month for January

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India opener Shubman Gill has been named the ICC Player of the Month for January on Monday. He pipped New Zealand’s Devon Conway and fellow countryman Mohammed Siraj to bag the honour.

Gill's glorious run in January

The 23-year-old entered the month of January on the back of an excellent tour of Bangladesh. He brought up his maiden Test ton in the neighbouring nation apart from scoring. In January, the strokeful batter was awarded his maiden T20I cap in the home series against Sri Lanka. He failed to impress in the first two matches before scoring 46 in this third outing in the shortest format of the game. The Punjab cricketer then aggregated 207 from three ODI innings against the island nation, including 70 and 116 in the first and third game respectively.

In the following three-match ODI series against New Zealand, he became only the fifth India batter to score a double hundred in the 50-over format. Batting in Hyderabad, he smashed 208 off 149 on a day when none of his teammates crossed 28. He hit as many as 19 fours and nine sixes in a thrilling knock, getting to the 200-run milestone with three successive maximums off pacer Lockie Ferguson.

Maiden T20I ton g

Gill rounded off the series with scores of 40* and 112 - the latter being his fourth ODI ton to go with five fifties in 21 innings to date - as India whitewashed the Blackcaps 3-0. Further, his aggregate of 360 became the joint-highest ever for anyone in a three-match bilateral ODI series. He equalled Pakistan captain Babar Azam’s record against the West Indies in 2016-17. He is currently the highest-ranked (6th) ODI batter from India.

However, the swashbuckling batter again flunked in the first two T20I against the Kiwis before smashing 126 not out off just 63 deliveries in the third match in Ahmedabad. With the hundred, he became the fifth India batter to score a hundred in each of the three international formats. Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli are the others from India to achieve the feat.

Gill is currently a part of the India Test squad for the ongoing four-match home series against Australia. He did not feature in the first Test which India won by an innings and 132 runs in Nagpur.