Gujarat Titans (GT) opener Shubman Gill's 67 off 49 balls was blasted at by former India opener Virender Sehwag, who said that the youngster will get a 'tight slap from cricket' after he almost lost his side the game against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Mohali on Thursday, April 14.
Gill began his innings on a relatively slower note than his opening partner Wriddhiman Saha but played till the final over of the match, eventually losing his wicket to a brilliant Sam Curran delivery as he looked to play across the line to a ball which was fairly deep in terms of length. Eventually, it was Rahul Tewatia who managed to win GT the game in the penultimate ball victory.
Former Indian legend Virender Sehwag pointed out Gill's strike rate once the powerplay got finished. The batter from Punjab should not think about personal milestones and should focus on what the situation demands from him.
"He scored 67 off 49 balls but when did he reach his fiifty? 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," said Sehwag.
The 23-year-old's strike rate also justifies Sehwag's point as at one stage Gill was 35 off 22 balls but he took 18 deliveries to reach his fifty, which is more than a run a ball.
"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 own performance (instead of the team), you will get a tight slap from cricket. You can't think like that. If he had showed 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 further added.
The young GT opener too agreed to this point and said that he should have stayed till the last ball to get the team over the line. "It got slower with the old ball. So we needed to get off to a good start in the powerplay. We lost a bit of momentum when Hardik bhai got out. It wasn't a big score but it was important to rotate the strike and not have dot balls," the Team India opener said.
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