Shubman Gill, Kolkata Knight Riders’ rising star believes that a player should know how to bat according to the situation and not always focus on strike rate.
Shubman Gill’s slow strike rate came into focus in the Indian Premier League 2020 season in UAE, and he also found himself out of India playing XI during the limited-overs series against England.
Shubman Gill: Strike Rate Is Overrated And It’s All About How One Adapt To A Certain Situation
Shubman Gill insisted that the strike rate factor is “overrated” on being asked if he is focusing on this aspect of his game and improving upon it.
“I think strike-rate is kind of overrated,” the KKR batsman told news agency PTI in an interview ahead of the upcoming IPL.
“It’s all about how you adapt to a certain situation. If the team demands you to play with a strike rate of 200 you should be able to do it. If the team demands you to play at a strike rate of 100, you should be able to do it. It’s just about adapting to the match situation,” he added.
“There shouldn’t be a certain pattern to your game where you are only able to play one kind of game and not being able to adapt to different situations,” Gill further said.
Shubman Gill has played 7 Tests and 3 ODIs so far for India amassing 378 Test runs and 49 ODI runs.
The 21-year-old Punjab batsman has recorded scores of 29, 50, 0, 14, 11, 15*, and 0 in the 4 Test series against England managing only 119 runs averaging only 19.83. Earlier, in three Tests in Australia, he scored 259 runs at a brilliant average of 51.80 with two half-centuries besides his name.
Shubman Gill Open To Bat Wherever The Team Requires Him
Shubman Gill also has not played any white-ball game since his last ODI appearance against Australia in December last year but lack of game time is not something that is keeping him worried while keeping IPL 2021 in mind.
“I don’t think it will affect anything because we have almost 10-12 days before our first match against Sunrisers Hyderabad (April 11) so there’s plenty of time for me to prepare,” Gill further said.
The 21-year-old, who opened up for KKR last season, further admitted that he is open to playing any role this season for the franchise, even if he is required to bat lower down the order.
“I’ll be pretty comfortable and up for it whether the team requires me to bat in the middle-order or higher up. I’m up for anything,” Gill signed off.
Shubman Gill has featured in 41 IPL games amassing 939 runs averaging 33.54 with 7 fifties.
21-year old opener Shubman Gill from Punjab has drawn immense praise from all quarters after important contributions to India’s U19 side’s world cup win in 2018. He was acquired by the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2018 and turned in useful contributions for them in his debut season and next two seasons- 2019 and 2020 season.
He was retained by the KKR team management who saw immense batting potential in him and even pegged him to be a part of their core leadership group. He scored 440 runs averaging 33.84 in 14 games at a strike rate of 117.96 in last season at UAE.
Meanwhile, Gurkeerat Singh Mann has been signed by Kolkata Knight Riders as a replacement for Rinku Singh, who has suffered a knee injury. Nitish Rana, Kolkata Knight Riders batsman, joined his teammates at the practice session after his COVID-19 test reports returned negative for the second successive day. The 27-year-old had 12 days of extended quarantine after he tested positive for COVID-19 on March 22, a day after he arrived in Mumbai.