Gill Breaks Silence On 'Toxic Competition' With Abhishek And Jaiswal

Abhishek Sharma smashed a stunning 54-ball 135 in the fifth and final T20I between India and England, finishing as the top run-scorer of the series by a mile. In the process, Abhishek overtook India's ODI vice-captain and Shubman Gill's record of the highest individual T20I score by an Indian. Abhishek's superb form adds another opening contender for India in limited overs cricket, following the good form of Yashasvi Jaiswal in Test cricket. With Jaiswal and Abhishek churning out top performances, Gill is in a scramble for a spot at the top of the order, but the 25-year-old asserted that there is no "toxic competition" between the three.

"Abhishek is a childhood of friend of mine. Jaiswal is also a friend, I don't think there is any toxic competition between us. Obviously if you are playing for the country, you want to perform in every match, and not think that 'I wish this guy doesn't perform'.

"You are playing for the country and for the team and whosoever performs you congratulate them," Gill said.

Gill, by virtue of more experience and past performances, is expected to partner Rohit Sharma at the top order in the Champions Trophy 2025.

Rohit's batting in ODIs has been game changing

The spotlight is firmly on senior players Rohit and Kohli, who have struggled with the bat in recent times.

However, Gill was quick to highlight the skipper's sensational form in white-ball cricket, which played a pivotal role in India reaching the 2023 ODI World Cup final. Even in the Sri Lanka series, Rohit scored two half centuries.

"The way Rohit bhai has been batting in the ODIs in the past one year and a half, it's been really game-changing for us."Taking the momentum right through from the start and taking the game away form ball one and it makes the job of the non-striker and the batsmen coming in a bit easier and I think it has helped our team a lot."

With PTI inputs