Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has praised Shubman Gill for his match-winning knock in Tuesday’s (May 10) IPL 2022 match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). Gill scored an unbeaten 63 off 49 deliveries as the Titans posted a decent total of 144/4. Their bowlers then bowled LSG out for 82 to win the match by 62 runs.
While reviewing the game in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra said: “Ek hi to dil hai Gill, kitni baar jeetoge. He scored a half-century, which seemed at one point that it was a very slow half-century. If you play the entire innings, stay unbeaten till the end and you score only 63 runs in total, it seems at times that you haven’t done a good job, you haven’t really batted for your team, you have batted against your team but that was not the case. This team did not show any urgency. I think it was already there in their minds that 140-plus is the right total to score, if we score more than that then fine, but if we reach there, that should be enough.”
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Aakash Chopra continued: “Gill was good. You score 144/4, Gill came as an opener and he was given a chance on zero, he was dropped. After that, another run-out chance and he survives that as well. Then one more time he leaves Hardik halfway, he also survives. There were so many run-out chances because runs were not getting scored easily. Shubman Gill played very well after the initial hiccups. He plays a good pull shot, that’s his quality. One thing I observed was that he just accelerated after 50, you can do that after 45 as well, cricket is so much attached to milestones, at times you feel it is unfair. But you will have to give him 100% for this knock.”
However, he also stated that the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) need to do some planning after their massive defeat against the Gujarat Titans (GT). Deepak Hooda (27 off 26), Quinton de Kock (11 off 10) and Avesh Khan (12 off 4) were the only three Lucknow Super Giants players to reach the double-digit mark.
He elaborated: “If we see from Lucknow’s viewpoint, the batting didn’t go anywhere. If you lose a 144-run encounter by 62 runs, you have to really do some soul-searching. The (GT) bowlers didn’t even bowl their full overs. It was just a cakewalk. My favorite contest was the one between Mohammed Shami and KL Rahul. Dot ball after dot ball and then the ball went straight up in the air. KL Rahul out, Quinton de Kock out and then other than Deepak Hooda neither did anyone show the will to stay there nor the skills.”
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Aakash Chopra also praised Mohammed Shami and Yash Dayal for giving the Gujarat Titans the early breakthroughs during the game. He also applauded Sai Kishore and Rashid Khan for taking wickets.
“First Mohammed Shami and then Yash Dayal. He (Dayal) got a chance again and he did an amazing job – he took two important wickets. He dismissed Quinton de Kock, who was looking a little dangerous and then Karan Sharma, a UP bowler and a UP batter and the Gujaratis got happy. Sai Kishore came and picked up two wickets in two overs. He is a TNPL guy, bowls left-arm spin, six franchises had gone after him and he played his first match of the IPL. Rashid karamati Khan picked up four wickets. Karamati Khan, talent ki khaan, he is brilliant,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
