'He is a future superstar of world cricket': Wasim Akram makes a huge prediction on young Indian batter

With his stylish strokes and consistent output with the bat, Shubman Gill has become the cynosure of all eyes.

SportsTak

• Sun • 04 Jun 2023

With his stylish strokes and consistent output with the bat, Shubman Gill has become the cynosure of all eyes. The elegant right-handed batter won the Orange Cap in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 with an aggregate of 890 runs in 17 matches. He averaged 59.33 with the bat and has scored runs at a strike rate of 157.80 with the help of four fifties and three centuries. In international cricket, Gill has been in phenomenal touch as well.

The young batter has played 17 matches so far in 2023 across formats, aggregating 980 runs at a stupendous average of 61.25. He has scored a century in all three formats of the game in 2023, including a double century in ODIs.

Gill has been regarded as a generational talent. At just the age of 23 years, the stylish right-handed batter has given a solid account of his prodigious talent. After displaying stellar performances with the bat, Gill has earned profound praise from fans and former cricketers. Several cricket followers have been touting Gill to be Virat Kohli's successor just as the latter took the torch from legendary Sachin Tendulkar.

Though Gill quashed all comparisons, former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram labeled huge praise on the youngster, citing the example of the great Sachin Tendulkar. The legendary fast bowlers opined that bowling to Gill is equivalent to doing the same to Sachin while Akram also predicted the right-handed youngster to become a superstar of world cricket in the future.

"When I bowl to a player like Gill, even in T20 format, it's like I am bowling to Sachin Tendulkar in one-day cricket in the first 10 overs, when only two fielders were allowed (outside the 30-yard circle)," Sportskeeda quoted Akram as saying.

"If I had to bowl to Jayasuriya or Kaluwitharna, I knew I had a chance. I can get them out as they hit on every ball. But, players like Sachin and Gill, they play proper cricketing shots. I think he is the kind of player who can score in all three formats consistently. He is a future superstar of world cricket," he added.

Gill will be seen in action in the upcoming World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia. India would hope for Gill to deliver in the same fashion as he has throughout the year so far.