Former Indian Dazzling opener Virender Sehwag slammed young Gujarat Titans opener Shubman Gill for his slow knock post-powerplay against Punjab Kings. Sehwag pointed out Gill’s poor strike rate as he took 40 balls to complete his half-century for the defending champion.
Shubman Gill had a brilliant start to his innings, as he scored 35 runs from the 22 balls, before going into a shell in the middle over as he took more than run a ball to complete his half-century against PBKS. Sehwag criticized Gill’s approach to playing for milestones rather than going hard in the middle overs.
“He scored 67 off 49 balls but when did he reach his fifty? He reached his fifty off maybe 41-42 balls so in 7-8 balls he scored 17 more runs. The acceleration came there after he had reached his fifty. If even that had not happened then GT would have chased maybe 17 instead of 7 in the last over,” Virender Sehwag said.
Virender Sehwag believes it is important to play aggressively in the middle over and added that Shubman Gill should have played with the same intent in the middle overs to complete the match as early as possible for the team.
“You can’t think let me score a fifty and we will anyway win the match. This is cricket. The moment you think about your performance (instead of the team), you will get a tight slap from cricket. You can’t think like that. If he had shown the same intent and played at close to a strike rate of 200 when he was nearing fifty then he could have reached his milestone a lot earlier and save more deliveries for his team,” Sehwag added.
Though, Shubman Gill was the only player to score a half-century in the match his strike significantly dipped post-power play for the defending champions, which left their team to chase down 7 runs in the final over and Gill was bowled in the final over before Rahul Tewatia heroics faced the match Gujarat Titans.
Show A Temperament Like MS Dhoni And Don’t Get Out – Sanjay Manjrekar’s Advice To Shubman Gill
Former Indian Cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar feels Shubman Gill should have finished the match for their side against Punjab Kings citing the example of legendary MS Dhoni. The middle order struggled to get going as Sai Sudharsan, Hardik Pandya and David Miller had a moderate outing with the bat.
“From this game, the takeaway is that if a batter is set, he should try and finish the game in the 18th or 19th over. If you are taking it till the end, show a temperament like MS Dhoni and don’t get out. Shubman Gill might be asked how the game went to the 20th over. Sai Sudharsan scored at a strike rate of around 100. David Miller was also rather quiet,” said Manjrekar.
Shubman Gill has established himself in Indian Cricket, but his strike rate in the T20 format is a cause of concern and he will look to improve his game plan in the forthcoming games.