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Shubman Gill has hit two half-centuries from four matches for the Gujarat Titans in the ongoing Indian Premier League season.
While accolades have poured in for the Indian cricketer, with the cricket great Matthew Hayden backing him to dominate the sport for the next decade, there have been a few criticisms as well.
Former India opener Virender Sehwag, who is known to not mince his words, lashed out at the youngster for almost messing up the Titans chase.
During Gujarat Titans six-wicket win over Punjab Kings in Mohali, GT opener Gill scored a 49-ball 67.
Talking about Gill’s innings, the former Indian cricketer said the opener should not be thinking about personal milestones.
“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,” Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.
The former Indian opener added, “If even that had not happened then GT would have been chasing maybe 17 instead of 7 in the last over. Gill did in fact did toil to his half-century. After being on 35 off 22, Gill took 18 deliveries to score the next 15 and reach his fifty, which was less than a run-a-ball.
In fact following the match, skipper Hardik Pandya had also stated that he would have preferred to have wrapped up the chase sooner instead of leaving it till the final over.
Talking about Gill’s innings, Sehwag went on to add, “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 your team’s performance), 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,” stated Sehwag.
While Gill fell in the final over, Rahul Tewatia held onto his nerves to take GT over the line.