Even coming into the tournament, young KKR star Shubman Gill was high-on-confidence with a couple of good knocks in the intra-squad practice games. But in IPL 2021, he has failed to get among the runs and that is hurting the franchise who have managed to win a single match out of five games. Former India opener Virender Sehwag has revealed the reason behind Gill’s failure.
Sehwag reckons Gill – who scored 11 off 19 balls vs RR – is an ODI and a Test player. The former legend said that in T20s one has to hit boundaries at will and that is where Gill struggles.
“See, I feel he’s a long-format player like the ODIs and Tests. In T20s, one has to hit boundaries at will. Either this, or you play a role where you don’t have to hit boundaries but just play safely at one end,” Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.
Sehwag also went on to suggest that Nitish Rana should play at No 4 while Sunil Narine or Rahul Tripathi could open the batting with him at the top.
“I suggest that KKR put him at one end and push Nitish Rana at 4 and open with Sunil Narine or Rahul Tripathi who can cash in on the powerplay for Shubman Gill. Because if Shubman Gill can play out the first six overs he can easily hit boundaries against the likes of (Rahul) Tewatia and Shivam Dube,” he added.
Gill is a key player for KKR and his getting back into form could make all the difference this season. KKR would hope they can bounce back soon and avoid getting eliminated from the playoffs race so early.
