Ravi Shastri, former India head coach, reserves a lot of praise for the Gujarat titans (GT) opener Shubman Gill for his match-winning knock against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the opening game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. On Friday, March 31, the defending champions defeated the four-time champions by five wickets in the first match at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Shastri reckons that Gill has realized he is a world-class player and it is now up to him to be consistent in the games going forward. In the tournament opener, MS Dhoni and his men gave a target of 179 runs to GT, with opener Ruturaj Gaikwad scoring 92 off 50 balls. Meanwhile, Gill smashed a stunning half-century (63 off 36 balls) as the defending champions overhauled the target with five wickets in 19.2 overs.
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During a chat on Star Sports, Ravi Shastri said, “He has an all-round game against both spin and pace. He has realized that he is a world-class player, the entire world knows that, and that now it is up to him to show consistency.”
The former India head coach then praised Gill’s method of scoring runs. The 60-year-old asserted that the youngster isn’t only dependent on fours and sixes to score runs. He stated that when Gill is unable to score fours and sixes, he opts for singles or doubles, thereby proving that he has a good sense of running between the wickets.
Ravi Shastri elaborated, “The biggest difference I have felt in his game is that he is playing very few dot balls. As Irfan Pathan said, when he is unable to hit boundaries and sixes, he takes singles and doubles. He is very good against spin-off both front and back foot.”
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He further added, “Santner is a very experienced bowler but he plays Santner extremely well – you would have seen that from the New Zealand series until now. He doesn’t commit, takes his chance against Santner on the back foot, and goes down the track very quickly when the ball is given little air.”
