Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has praised Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan for scoring swashbuckling centuries in the Gujarat Titans’ (GT) IPL 2024 win against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK). While Gill scored a 55-ball 104, Sudharsan smashed 103 runs off 51 deliveries as well. The duo’s 210-run opening-wicket partnership helped GT post a massive 232-run target in Ahmedabad on Friday, May 10 and then they restricted CSK to 196/8 to register a 35-run win as well.
Reflecting on the Gujarat Titans’ batting in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said, “Both openers came and hit a lot. Both – Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill – scored centuries. They were batting at a different level. The start wasn’t that rapid-fire but after that, once their wagon changed gears, the flight mode was activated.”
“The thing I like a lot about Sai Sudharsan is that he bats very well in a cricketing fashion. He hit a six over cover, started from there. The way he flicks the ball is top-notch. He has very quick hands and hits the balls on the stumps. Since the time is going good, the ball doesn’t hit his pads, or else you feel that it might hit his pads,” Chopra added. “He plays almost off-stump balls on the leg side. The third thing I really like about his batting is that he plays along the ground and pierces the fielders in the deep. It’s very rare that you have so much strength that you beat the fielder in the deep even when you are hitting along the ground. It doesn’t look like he would hit big sixes but he hits.”
However, Aakash Chopra was equally appreciative of Shubman Gill’s strokeplay. He also recalled a pull shot of Sachin Tendulkar who hit off Andrew Caddick’s bowling while moving across outside the off-stump and went for a six. While saying that Daryl Mitchell is not as proficient a bowler as the England seamer, he added that Gill treated him similarly as well.
“Shubman Gill also started hitting from the start. He hit a very good six against the left-arm spinner after jumping down the track. He did that in the first over bowled by Mitchell Santner. After that, don’t bowl on his legs. If you bowl on his legs, he keeps hitting fours. He has played a shot many times this season, once against Kagiso Rabada and today he hit a length ball into the stands. When he plays those shots, you say this guy’s class is different. His playing ability is incredible. Some shots were lovable,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
