Former New Zealand cricketer Scott Styris believes that Kolkata Knight Riders made the biggest blunder by releasing young Indian opener Shubman Gill for their team after the conclusion of the 2021 IPL. The 23-year-old was drafted by Gujarat Titans for INR 8 crore ahead of the 2022 IPL auction.
In IPL 2023 season, the Indian youngster has slammed 851 runs at an average of 60.79 and a strike rate of 156.43. The 23-year-old has three tons and four half-centuries to his name this season. Gill went past Faf Du Plessis (730 runs) and became the leading run-getter in IPL 2023 in Qualifier 2 against Mumbai Indians.
He was part of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) franchise from 2018 to 2021 but was signed by Gujarat Titans ahead of the 2022 season. Speaking on Jio Cinema, Scott Styris feels that the release of Shubman Gill is the biggest blunder by the two-time champions followed by the KL Rahul release from Royal Challengers Bangalore.
“I still believe that his release from KKR will go down as the biggest blunder a franchise has made. The only other one was KL Rahul from RCB. However, there is an age advantage here. Gill is still a very young man, he has got a lot of growth in his game,” Scott Styris said on JioCinema.
Scott Styris predicts that the Indian youngster will not only be the future of the Gujarat Titans and feels that he is going to be the next big thing for India in International Cricket.
“He can not only be the star for this GT star, especially after the next World Cup, but he will also be the backbone of this Indian side. And I think he will embrace that.”
During his stint with Kolkata, Gill scored 1417 runs in 58 matches at an average of 31.48 and a strike rate of 123, with 10 fifties, and the youngster was released by the franchise as Kolkata Knight Riders went off retaining Venkatesh Iyer and Varun Chakravarthy over the youngster.
Shubman Gill Is Happy To Be The Mainstay Of This Batting Line-up – Scott Styris
Scott Styris feels that World has seen his evolution in cricket starting from Kolkata Knight Riders to Gujarat Titans and believes that the youngster has matured over the years as he has been converting the starts in recent times and compared with Indian batting maestro Virat Kohli, who has the total control over the game.
“We have seen the evolution of Baby GOAT, from his KKR days to now in GT. He was getting started, and out of nowhere, he would get out. But he is converting those. He has made the adjustments to his game. He has taken the responsibility, he is happy to be the mainstay of this batting line-up”.
“And he is looking like Virat Kohli back in the day as well, in the sense that he is in total control of his game. He is not having to thrash the ball or go after the bowling. He just hits the bad ball,” Scott Styris said.
The 23-year-old is already touted to be the next big thing in Indian Cricket and has been in the form of life since the start of the 2023 season will look to do well for the defending champions in the final and then be followed by the all-important WTC final against Australia starting on June 7.