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What a brilliant player Shubman Gill is!
For a batter with such exquisite touch, it doesn't seem fit to expect Gill to do well in a slam-bang format like the IPL.
But he continues to impress with his class as he showed on Tuesday, April 25, 2023, when he led the Gujarat Titans to another wonderful start in the match against the Mumbai Indians.
He started off watchfully, but once he got his feet in, he found the runs with ease. He flicked and pulled to get his boundaries before he provided the much-needed thrust hitting two fours and a six off Cameron Green to take GT to 50/1 at the end of the Powerplay.
He got his runs in singles and twos while getting some boundaries off the flick of the wrists and also dancing down the track to Kumar Kartikeya before taking a single off the last ball of the over to bring up his 3rd half-ton this IPL.
He was looking good for a big innings before Kartikeya exacted his revenge and had Gill caught at long-on. Gill set the platform nicely before David Miller and Abhinav Manohar's blitz took GT to 207 for 6.
Chasing 208, MI started shakily, losing Rohit Sharma off Hardik Pandya.
Rashid Khan is an IPL legend and he has been GT's leading bowler since the franchise's inaugural season. But another leggie from Aghanistan took the honours on the night.
Noor Ahmad joined Rashid to keep things tight in the middle overs and keep MI under the pump.
22-year-old Noor came into the attack with MI struggling to get the chase going. He was smacked for two sixes by Green in back-to-back overs. But Green wasn't at his best and Noor got his revenge in the next over of his spell when Green fail to connect and had his stumps shattered.
Noor struck again in the same over, taking out MI's Impact Sub Tilak Varma caught in the deep for a duck.
In the final over of his spell, Noor bowled a couple of fuller balls that Nehal Wadhera and Suryakumar Yadav smacked to the boundary. Noor immediately was given some pointers by his senior Rashid and two balls later, he had Surya smash it straight to him to send him back for 23.
Noor's three big wickets ensured MI nevered recovered, finishing 55 runs short.