'I got injured...,' Shubman Gill Opens Up About His Mindset After Knocking MI Out of IPL
Shubman Gill takes a leap after scoring a sensational ton [Image- IPLT20]
India and Gujarat Titans opener Shubman Gill revealed that the technical changes that he has made in his batting in the last 12 months is the reason why his T20 batting has been on a completely different level in this season of the Indian Premier League.
One of the hallmarks of a potential great athlete is that he/she never rests on their laurels and keeps reinventing their game.
Over the course of the last few weeks, and especially on Saturday evening against MI, Shubman Gill has proved that he belongs to that category.
Another hallmark of a great player is that he/she milks the purple patch to the hilt, and Shubman has certainly done that over past 8-9 months, creaming 100s, 200s for fun in all formats of the game.
On Saturday, Gill took his T20 game to another level as he played a near perfect knock to knock out the stuffing from the MI attack.
He got a reprieve early in the innings when Tim David dropped him at wide mid-on, and just like every great batsman does, Gill made Mumbai pay heavily for it.
For Gill, it was the sixes that he hit off Akash Madhwal and Piyush Chawla in consecutive overs that gave him an indication that it may well be his night. He wasn't wrong.
Gill was rightly adjudged the 'Player of the Match' at the post-match presentation, where he said:
"For me, it is playing ball to ball, over to over. The over where I hit three sixes gave me the momentum to go big. That's when I realised it could be my day. It was a good wicket to bat on as well. Not a conscious decision, you keep inventing as a batter but for me the belief is more important. I am coming off a good international season as well. Had a good season last time as well. When I start well, I feel confident I can score well. From the last WI tour, I think I have shifted a gear, I got injured before the last IPL but I have been working on my game. I have worked on a few areas and made technical changes ahead of the NZ series after the T20I World Cup. Expectations are something that follow you outside the ropes, but once you step on the field it is all about trying how to contribute for the team. I think this was probably my best innings so far in the IPL."
Gill ultimately finished at a 60-ball 129, and in the process, he also breached the 800-run mark for the season.
In 16 innings, the opener has scored 851 runs @ 60.79/156.43. He'll have one more shot at breaching the 973-run mark set by Virat Kohli in 2016, when he takes guard against CSK in the final on May 28.
 "Yash Mittal")
