Shubman Gill Reveals How Shah Rukh Khan Motivated Him

Shubman Gill can bat at any position but given a choice he would prefer to open regularly in the shortest format of the game. Shubman Gill has played for Kolkata Knight Riders and featured in 27 IPL matches scoring 499 runs averaging a healthy 33.27 with 4 half-centuries.

He has played only 2 ODI matches where he scored 16 runs but he is a future star in making. He rose to fame with 418 runs at an average of 104.50 in the 2018 ICC U19 World Cup, where he served as Prithvi Shaw’s deputy and was selected in KKR’s squad in 2018. He scored 203 runs in IPL 2018 and 296 runs in IPL 2019.

Shubman Gill Prefers To Open The Innings And Want To Win Matches

Shubman Gill, one of the batting mainstays of Kolkata Knight Riders, spoke to PTI on several issues including the pressure of expectations, his relationship with franchise’s co-owner Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and his mentor Yuvraj Singh’s contribution as Shubman Gill did his pre-season camp in Punjab under him before IPL.

“If I was given an option, I would prefer to open the innings,” the 21-year-old answered when asked if he would like to go out there at the start with the flamboyant Sunil Narine.

A batsman who will be looked forward to with interest in the post-Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma generation, Shubman Gill is considered one of the finest talents among his contemporaries even keeping his U-19 captain Prithvi Shaw in mind.

“I don’t think it really weighs on me that much, because when I go in to bat the only thing that stays in the mind is how I would score runs in a particular situation.”

“In my mind, the only goal is to win matches for whichever team I am playing,” added Gill, who has an impressive strike-rate of nearly 135 from 37 T20 games.

Shubman Gill feels that UAE tracks will be somewhat similar to turning Indian pitches and the bat speed won’t change much considering the slowish nature of the wicket. The IPL 2020 begins on September 19.

“No, I don’t think we need to change to any kind of specific bats (in terms of weight), because in India we are used to playing on slow pitches. You need to adapt and I believe I can play on all kinds of surfaces,” he said.

Shubman Gill was retained by the team management of KKR ahead of IPL 2020 seeing his immense batting potential and even encouraged him to be a part of their core leadership group.

Shubman Gill Excited About Yuvraj Singh’s Possible Comeback

Before joining his franchise in the UAE, Shubman Gill did his pre-season at the Punjab state team nets under Yuvraj Singh’s mentorship. In fact, Shubman Gill is excited that the two time World Cup winner of 2007 and 2011 is making a possible comeback to competitive cricket.

“I think it will really be helpful for the Punjab youngsters…We spent a couple of weeks with Yuvi Paaji. We were training with him and we also practised (nets) with him.

“There were a lot of things that we talked about not just on the field but, you know, some things off the field. It was overall a really good experience for us,” Gill, who attended the sessions along with Punjab teammates Abhishek Sharma, and cousin brother Anmolpreet and Prabh Simran Singh.

KKR principal owner Shah Rukh Khan is known to be a great motivator and he asked Shubman Gill to express himself in the field without any fear of being dropped.

“I think when I first met him (SRK), and I think I was about to make my IPL debut in that match, he just came and told me ‘just go out there and express yourself’.For any youngster, if your owner of the team is telling you to express yourself without having the fear of being dropped or getting dropped. It’s a really big thing,” he concluded.

KKR are two-time IPL winners in 2012 and 2014 and seek to win their third title under wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik’s captaincy.