Shubman Gill will face a big threat against Jofra Archer.
Jofra Archer has dismissed Shubman Gill thrice in six T20 innings. Overall, the head-to-head record goes in the bowler’s favour: 16 runs, 19 balls, 5.33 average, 84.21 SR, & 3 dismissals. The latest wicket came in IPL 2025, where an incoming delivery went on to crash the stumps.
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Shubman Gill has always had issues with those deliveries coming into him, particularly at the start of the innings. This was one of the reasons why he couldn’t succeed as an opener in Tests. In white-ball cricket, he still manages to get away at times, since the white ball doesn’t move for long anymore.
However, Gill has still had trouble with incoming deliveries, at least in the initial few overs, which should be Rajasthan Royals’ target in Ahmedabad. In the initial four overs, typically the phase with the most new-ball movement these days, the Gujarat Titans (GT) captain has been dismissed three times in IPL since last year.
All those dismissals have come on inswinging deliveries – once each against Jofra Archer, Anshul Kamboj, and Trent Boult. Overall, on all the inswinging or seaming in balls in the first four overs, Gill has an average of just 16.66 and played around 21.62% false shots. Clearly, his survival rate has been low, and he has lost his wicket more often on these deliveries.
The incoming balls have also worked against RHBs in Ahmedabad early on. In the same phase, fast bowlers have taken three wickets at a strike rate of 22.66 since last year. Additionally, they have induced a whopping 36.76% of false shots.
If Gill has had issues in the first four overs, Jofra Archer has aced this phase specifically with Rajasthan Royals since last year. He has taken seven wickets at 21.33 runs apiece and an economy rate of 6.48 with the ball. Against RHBs, Archer has taken five of them at an average of 22.66.
Two of those wickets have come on 55 inswinging deliveries, conceding only 7.30 runs per over. He has induced as many as 56.36% false shots on such balls. Gill has, anyway, been on the wrong side of things often, with every 2.66 false shots resulting in a dismissal against incoming balls.
For Archer, the thing has been that wickets haven’t come on most of the false shots he generated, which is exactly the opposite of Gill’s pattern. So, the plan should be: over the wicket, inward angle, and targeting the gap between bat and pad. Shubman Gill has a marvellous record in Ahmedabad, and the onus will be on Jofra Archer to remove him early, possibly inside the first four overs.
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