Gujarat Titans opening batter Shubman Gill said it is always pleasing to stay till the end of the innings and contribute to the team’s success.
Gill played a measured knock of 63* off 49 balls with the help of seven fours at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune against Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday.
As it was a difficult pitch, Gill decided to rotate the strike and felt the opposition batters made a mistake by bowling a tad short against them. Gill added 52 runs off 41 balls with David Miller, who scored 26 runs.
Gill took his time in the initial phase and got crucial boundaries after completing his fifty. GT was able to post 144-4 runs on the board and one thought it might not be enough against LSG, which has a deep batting unit.
However, GT bowlers were right on the money as LSG were skittled out for a meager score of 82 runs to lose by 62 runs after the KL Rahul-led team kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
Shubman Gill was awarded the Player of the Match for his fine knock and he said in the post-match presentation, “Always pleasing when you’re there till the end and finish the game for your team. I didn’t expect the ball to seam as much at the start. It was nipping around, and then I expected the spinners to get some turn. I think they didn’t bowl up much. Had Krunal pitched it up, it would have been tougher. It helped us turn the singles over. Not a lot of people gave us a chance at the start, but great to qualify now. The ground was soft and I had a few back issues, but hopefully, it would all be fine.”
On the other hand, Rashid Khan bowled another fine spell for Gujarat Titans. The Afghanistan spinner returned with figures of 4-24, which is his best bowling performance in the IPL. Khan accounted for Krunal Pandya, Deepak Hooda, Avesh Khan, and Jason Holder in his match-winning spell.
He said after the game, “Those couple of games which did not go well was all about my line and length. That was something I was missing in those games. With the pace I bowl and the action I have, I cannot afford to lose my line and length, it was about focusing on hitting the right area. The wicket was helping today with bounce and turn, but overall it was about bowling in the right areas. They (the pacers) have given us a platform where we can come and put the pressure on. In a chase like 140-145, you need to have a good powerplay and the seamers gave us that. This is a very crucial part of the competition, it is all about the process whether we win or lose, we should keep the same process. We have to get better day by day and have to keep doing good things. Now the focus should be on playing good cricket and enjoying ourselves. I think Holder’s wicket was crucial at that time and I had planned it, to bowl the leggie from the middle stump.”
GT will next face Chennai Super Kings at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Sunday.
