 "Shubman Gill made a century for ‘Punjab’, yet the team lost shamefully")
New Delhi- Indian team’s star batsman Shubman Gill has faced a crushing defeat on his return to the Ranji Trophy. Captaining Punjab against Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group C match on Saturday, Gill scored a century but it was to no avail. After failing in the first innings, he scored a century in the second innings but the team still suffered a massive defeat by an innings and 207 runs against Karnataka. Gill was seen struggling alone to save the innings in the second innings but did not get any support from the other end.
Shubman Gill opened for Punjab in the second innings of the ongoing match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru and scored a century off 159 balls with 14 fours and 3 sixes. He is the only Punjab batsman to score runs against Karnataka in this match. Karnataka scored 475 runs in the first innings. After losing the toss, Punjab batted first and scored 55 runs in the first innings while being restricted to 213 runs in the second innings.
A much needed century for Shubman Gill here vs Karnataka. Gets a double from 98. His switch in gear post his fifty was commendable from 50 off 119 to 100 off 159.
PUN 184/7 pic.twitter.com/6EpO84ydXs— Chandra Prabhu S (@bettercallCP) January 25, 2025
Despite Gill’s return to the Ranji squad, Punjab’s performance remained disappointing. In the first innings against Karnataka, Gill managed to score only 4 runs in 8 balls. While in the second innings, he struggled and scored a century. Apart from Shubman Gill, who returned after playing in Australia, the Punjab team included players like Mayank Agarwal, Devdutt Padikal and Prasidh Krishna. Krishna made his place in India’s playing eleven for the fifth Test against Australia from 3 to 5 January at the Sydney Cricket Ground. While Padikkal played the first match of the series at Optus Stadium.