IPL: Shubman Gill Has Turned Into World Class Player, Says Gujarat Titans Mentor Gary Kirsten

Defending Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Gujarat Titans have got a lengthy break since their last match in the IPL 2023 season. After losing to Rajasthan Royals in their last game on Sunday, GT have got a break of nearly a week and will play their next game on Saturday against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Lucknow on Saturday. One man who is once against shining for the IPL champions is opener Shubman Gill, who is already their top run-getter with 228 runs from 5 matches this year.

Gill, who has had a sensational run with the Indian cricket team recently – scoring centuries in all three formats, is averaging 45.6 with two fifties and a strike-rate of 139.87. The Punjab batter is number five on the Orange Cap race currently and the kind of form he is in, he could very well challenge for the Orange Cap soon.

GT mentor and former Team India head coach Gary Kirsten paid glowing tributes to Shubman Gill, saying that the GT opener has developed into a ‘world-class’ player. “Shubman Gill has developed into a class player, just see his run of form with Indian team. The next level for Shubman is how he can take his skills and how he can have greater impact. He is on an upward curve of progress, has good thinking and idea of how he can succeed,” Kirsten said during a media interaction on Thursday.

Shubman's smile _ Shubman's drives __

Drop a _ in the comments for our _boy @ShubmanGill, #TitansFAM! #AavaDe | #TATAIPL 2023 pic.twitter.com/VXI20dRS8o — Gujarat Titans (@gujarat_titans) April 19, 2023

‘Sai Sudharsan has filled in for Kane Williamson’

Apart from Shubman, another young player who has impressed everyone in IPL 2023 so far is Sai Sudharsan. The young southpaw played the opening game against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) as an ‘Impact Player’ but has made the No. 3 position in GT side his own in the absence of Kane Williamson.

“The fact that we retained him (Sai Sudharsan) from last year is testament to his massive potential, this year we wanted to give him more game time. He has massive potential as young player, he loves to step up to the plate and take up a challenge. Sai mentally manages himself really well,” Kirsten said about Sudharsan.

The former South African opener also revealed that Sudharsan has managed to fill the void left by injury to former New Zealand captain Kane Williamson. The Black Caps player has been ruled out of the IPL 2023 after tearing ligaments in his knee in the opening match.

“Williamson absence will be definitely felt, he would have fit into our team environment. He will be missed and is an experienced player, he would played important role as a leader, Sai Sudharsan has done a great job of replacing him,” Kirsten said.

‘Mohit Sharma is an inspiration’

The GT mentor was also impressed by the two ‘comeback men’ – Vijay Shankar and Mohit Sharma this season. Tamil Nadu all-rounder Shankar is the third-highest run-getter for GT so far with 119 runs in 3 matches at an explosive strike-rate of 175. While Mohit Sharma has an excellent economy rate of 4.16 in two matches so far.

“Vijay who battled last season, came back to prove that he is a player to be reckoned with. He got into great physical condition ahead of this season. Mohit is an inspiration, spent all of last IPL only as net bowler, someone of his age to do that is remarkable,” Kirsten said.

Finally asked about GT’s inability to chase down totals in IPL 2023, Kirsten said, “Last IPL we defended 4 totals and chased down 6 totals. This year we haven't defended total yet. Last year we had settled bowling line-up, this year we have few injuries. Every team needs to adapt to different situations and look to potentially reset.”