T20: Gill, Hardik back in full flow

Cuttack, Dec 9: Shubman Gill marked his return with an intense two-hour hit but a fit-again Hardik Pandya opted out of the training session ahead of T20 series-opener at the Barabati Stadium, here Monday.

The Indian Test and ODI skipper Gill, back after a nasty neck spasm and 24 days on the sidelines of recovery and rehab, looked in full flow.

He began with sharp fielding and catching drills before moving into the nets, where he faced both pace and spin including spells from Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Axar Patel and even Abhishek Sharma, the fiery left-handed opener who chose not to pad up on the day.

After a long chat with head coach Gautam Gambhir near the centre wicket, Gill shifted to the middle, unleashing a range of audacious strokes that repeatedly sailed into the galleries.

With free public access, nearly 5,000 fans roared as Gill stepped out and deposited balls into galleries, at times overshadowing power-hitter Shivam Dube during their rotational practice session.Wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson also took the first hit at the side nets with Gill, indicating that he may start ahead of Jitesh Sharma in the series-opener, even as the Kerala player may only get to bat in the middle-order.

Suryakumar has already made it clear that Gill deserved to get that opening slot.

“Shubman had played before him in the Sri Lanka series. So, he deserved to take that spot. But we gave Sanju opportunities.

“He was ready to bat at any number. Which actually is good to see any player being very flexible batting from 3 to 6 anywhere. So, that is one thing which I have told all the batters. Other than openers, everyone has to be flexible.” If Gill’s return electrified the nearly two-and-half-hour session, Hardik’s no-show created some talking point.

Having checked in early and trained solo for almost an hour at Barabati on Sunday, the all-rounder skipped the team’s main session “as a precautionary measure”