Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Faf du Plessis hailed Gujarat Titans opener Shubman Gill, who overtook him being the leading run scorer in this edition of the Indian Premier League with a brilliant century against five-time champions Mumbai Indians on Friday.
After a heartbreaking season with Royal Challengers Bangalore, Faf du Plessis joined the commentary panel of Star Sports for Qualifier 2 through realistic hologram technology. This is the same technology that was used for Steve Smith in the first half of IPL 2023.
Speaking on Shubman Gill’s Phenomenal Century against Mumbai Indians, The South African hailed the GT youngster for playing tremendous cricket in recent times and lauded him for putting his team in the winning position match after match and reckons that he has been producing some tall match-winning scores for his team in IPL 2023.
“Yeah, fair enough. Give it to the guy that’s playing really good cricket at the moment. That was a special knock. We always talk about putting in a performance as a batter that will put your team in a winning position. Not getting 30s and 40s but making a big contribution. 129 off 60 balls is certainly doing that,” Faf du Plessis said.
Shubman Gill had amassed 851 runs in 16 matches at an impressive average of 60.79 and a strike rate of 156.43 scoring three centuries in the last four games he played in the cash-rich league. The 23-year-old has been enjoying a remarkable year in international cricket, including centuries in all formats and a double hundred in ODIs against New Zealand.
This Was The Knock Of His Career So Far – Harbhajan Singh On Shubman Gill’s Innings
Cricketer-turned-commentator Harbhajan Singh lauded the young Shubman Gill for playing a vital knock in the Qualifier 2 and rated his knock as the best one of his career so far and believes that the Indian opener has got immense potential to do wonders in the future.
“This is unbelievable and very important for someone to play a knock like that. This was the knock of his career so far. He still has a long career ahead of him and he will play better knocks than this. But so far in the tournament, this was the best innings,” Harbhajan Singh said in Star Sports.
The former Indian spinner praised Shubman Gill for playing proper cricketing shots to score runs at a higher strike rate, stating the examples of RCB opener Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis, who played exceptionally well this season but could not make it into the last four stages.
“I don’t think I have the words to describe how important this knock was. The way he played was incredible at a time when his team needed it. My salute to him for the way he batted.
“No hanky-panky, he played proper cricketing shots. Only proper crickets can have such innings for example, Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli and now Gill, all proper players,” Harbhajan added.
Defending Champions Gujarat Titans will take on four-time champions Chennai Super Kings in the grand final of the IPL 2023. So far, only two teams– Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians – have managed to defend their titles and win back-to-back IPL trophies and the defending champions will look to achieve this historic feat on Sunday.