Pune : Gujarat Titans’ right-arm fast bowler Lockie Ferguson felt that a century for young opener Shubman Gill is round the corner, given the way he batted against Delhi Capitals at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium here on Saturday night.
The 30-year-old New Zealand fast bowler was the star in Gujarat Titans’ 14-run victory against DC but he chose to put the spotlight on the 22-year-old Gill, who played a superb innings of 84 off 46 balls to help the IPL newbies to a competitive 171/6 in 20 overs, batting first.
Fergusion then bowled an inspired spell, taking four wickets for 28 runs at a superb economy rate of seven as DC could manage only 157/9 in reply.
“Having played with Gilly (Shubman Gill) over the last three years, with KKR and then again here (Gujarat Titans) this year, it’s been awesome to see his progression as a player,” Ferguson said after the match.
Gill was batting in the first innings of a night match. That meant dew. That meant batting first was going to be way more difficult than batting second, when the wet ball slides nicely on to the bat. That difficulty was reflected in the Titans’ batting figures: a batting line-up packed with power-hitters from top to bottom remained subdued even as Gill went into overdrive.
“There’s no doubt that he’s (Gill) got unbelievable talent, and so much time. I know, bowling to him in the nets, he has all the time in the world. But seeing him tonight really extends that and get a big total… I know he would be upset not to get the big hundred, as he would be, but it’s just around the corner. Exceptional batting tonight,” added Ferguson.
Gill scored at a strike rate of 156 against pace bowlers, while against the spin of stalwarts such as Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav, he smashed 45 runs off 21 balls at a strike rate of 214.28.
–IANS
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