Veteran India opener Virender Sehwag lashed out at Shubman Gill’s batting approach against Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League 2023 at Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali. The Gujarat Titans opener scored 67 runs to set up the foundation of his team’s victory but he failed to finish it by himself and was dismissed in the final. The momentum was shifted in Punjab Kings’ way in the last over when Titans required 4 runs off 2 balls but Rahul Tewatia hit the match-winning four with a ball to spare.
Gill scored his half-century in 40 balls and put his foot on the accelerator after reaching the mark.
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Sehwag was not impressed with Gill’s approach and said he took extra time to accelerate the innings which put the Titans in a risky position at one stage.
“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 has scored 17 more runs. The acceleration came there, after he had reached his fifty. If even that had not happened then GT would have chasing maybe 17 instead off 7 in the last over,” Sehwag told Cricbuzz.
The legendary India opener, who was one of the most destructive batters of his time, suggested that Gill was focussing on scoring a half-century. Sehwag lashed out at the GT opener and said that when a player starts thinking about his personal milestone, the game hits back at him.
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“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), thappad padta hai cricket se (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 asserted.
Shubman has scored 183 runs in four matches so far this season at a strike rate of 141.86, while Gujarat rely heavily on him to give the team a solid start with the bat.
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