Virender Sehwag, the former cricketer from India, criticized Shubman Gill, the opener of the Gujarat Titans, following his team’s almost unsuccessful pursuit of 154 runs against the Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023.
However, Gill contributed significantly to the team’s victory by scoring 67 runs off 49 balls, including seven fours and a six, leading Gujarat to a total of 154-4 in 19.5 overs in response to Punjab’s 153-8 in their respective 20 overs. He achieved his half-century in 40 balls.
Despite Gill’s impressive performance, the esteemed cricketer observed that his strike rate had decreased after a rapid start. The former player advised Gill to focus on analyzing the game situation rather than striving for individual milestones.
On Cricbuzz, Sehwag elaborated on Gill’s performance and highlighted that although Gill scored 67 runs off 49 balls, he reached his fifty around 41-42 balls. Sehwag pointed out that Gill’s acceleration came after he achieved his half-century, and he scored an additional 17 runs in just 7-8 balls.
The former cricketer emphasized that if this acceleration had not occurred, Gujarat Titans would have had to chase 17 runs instead of 7 in the final over.
Sehwag emphasized that players should prioritize their team’s objectives over individual accomplishments. He stated that players cannot rely on achieving personal milestones and assume that their team will win the game.
Sehwag warned that cricket has a way of punishing players who focus solely on their own performance. He added that if Gill had maintained a similar level of intent and played at a strike rate of approximately 200 while approaching his fifty, he could have achieved his half-century much earlier and saved more deliveries for his team.
“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 the team), you will get a tight slap from cricket. You can’t think like that,” said the former Indian explosive opening batsman.
“If he had shown 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 saved more deliveries for his team,” said the former India opener,” he further added.
