Aakash Chopra has picked Shubman Gill as his Player of the Match for the match between the Gujarat Titans (GT) and the Punjab Kings (PBKS). Gill smashed 96 runs off just 59 deliveries to help the Titans chase down a 190-run target alongside Rahul Tewatia who smashed two sixes in the final two balls and sealed the deal.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra picked Gill as the star performer of the game, saying: “Rahul Tewatia was the Player of the Match or Shubman Gill was the Player of the Match or Rashid Khan, who took three wickets, was the Player of the Match or Liam Livingstone’s knock was good. My player of the day has to be Shubman Gill because you are chasing and this team’s batting is weak.”
The former India cricketer observed: “The batting does not have that much might and is extremely dependent on Shubman Gill’s performance. Their team looks good if Gill fires but if he doesn’t, it looks, unfortunately, a little weak.”
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However, Shubman Gill did not have a great start to IPL 2022 as he fell for a duck in Gujarat Titans’ first match against the Lucknow Super Giants. However, he has bounced back with a bang and scored 84 and 96 to help the Titans maintain their all-win record as well. Gill smashed 11 fours and a solitary six during his 96-run knock. He played with a strike rate of 162.71 with his conventional cricketing shots. Meanwhile, Aakash Chopra was full of praise for Tewatia also.
Aakash Chopra explained: “It was not such a straightforward run chase. When it is more than 180 runs, it takes some doing and these days that much dew is not coming. Matthew Wade does not make runs and you don’t have formidable batters down the order. How well the guy batted, incredible batting, the way he hit his shots. Two consecutive 80-plus scores, this should have been a century. I like two of his shots a lot – the backfoot punch he hits to the right of deep point and the left of covers, and the pull to mid-wicket, a fielder is not there in both areas. It was all class, he was hitting and the opposition team was also clapping.”
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“Rahul Tewatia hits two sixes off two balls. It is incredible. I was one of the skeptics when he was bought for 9 crores, I had asked why so expensive. He is conceding 25-25 runs when he bowls, he did that in this match as well but he has already played two knocks which have been absolute gold dust, short but extremely effective,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
