Former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag has slammed Shubman Gill for his poor shot-selection in T20 cricket. Sehwag was totally unimpressed with Gill after he scored a three-ball duck in Gujarat Titans‘ opening match of IPL 2022, against Lucknow SuperGiants.
Shubman Gill, who opened the innings with Australian Matthew Wade, looked completely out of sorts and threw his wicket away without any fight. Gill tried to take on Dushmantha Chameera, in the first over of the match, and edged the ball straight into the hands of Krunal Pandya, at backward point.
Talking on a show for Cricbuzz, Virender Sehwag, who is widely regarded as one of the most destructive batsmen in the history of cricket, said that Shubman Gill needs to work on his stroke-making in T20 cricket. Sehwag also added that Gill doesn’t need to play cheeky shots to succeed in T20 cricket and advised him to focus on his natural game.
“I think he is a better ODI player. Because in T20 cricket, those players succeed who can hit boundaries at will inside the Powerplay. That is what he needs to work on. He has given statements and said that I have learned some cheeky shots, but with his batting, he does not need to play cheeky shots. Even if he plays normal cricket, he can give a better start,” Virender Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.
Virender Sehwag also said that Shubman Gill needs to find the right gear while batting because he either plays too fast or too slow, in T20 cricket.
“He should not forget that when T20 cricket comes around, he either plays too fast or too slow. Last year, he had a strike rate of 120 and we thought that he should increase it. This year, I hope he does not start at 150 and goes off track. Strike rate can be improved while playing normally which Badoni and Hooda showed,” Virender Sehwag added.
Sehwag advised Shubman Gill to not focus too much on cheeky strokes and gave examples of himself, Gautam Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar, who used to play normal cricket strokes and still did pretty well in the shortest format of the game.
“But Shubman Gill needs to get there. He scores 25-30 runs and gets out. Strike rate will increase once you reach 60, 70, or 80. That is when you can play freely. Did Sachin Tendulkar or I or Gautam Gambhir as openers play those cheeky shots. I don’t think so. You can score runs before being cheeky and score quickly,” Virender Sehwag concluded.
