IPL 2023: Shubman Gill's breakout season with GT shows how good Virat Kohli was in 2016
Gill (L) and Kohli are the only two Indian batsmen with 800+ runs in IPL.
Gujarat Titans opening batsman Shubman Gill had a brilliant season in Indian Premier League (IPL) as he scored 890 runs in 16 matches he played in 2023 at an average of 59.33 and a strike rate of 157.80. His performance was 160-run best than Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Faf du Plessis, who was a distant second in the season with 730 runs in 14 matches.
Even if Faf (14) had played as many matches as Gill (16) played, he wouldn't have surpassed the GT opener. The reasoning behind this is - Faf averaged 56 in the season and had he played two more matches to equal Gill's tally, he would have ended up with 842 runs or 850 - 40 less than what Gill scored this season.
The GT batter crossed 50 seven times in 2023 and converted three of them into hundreds. He also crossed Rajasthan Royals batter Jos Buttler's record of 863 runs which the Englishman had set in the 2022 season. One might say that Gill got such numbers as he opens the batting, thus getting the best chance to play as many overs as possible from the available 20. And this is true and it isn't unfair or anything but just how the games work that openers get the best chance to score runs.
Now let's talk about Virat Kohli.
The RCB batter has been in the IPL since its inception in 2008. He has scored the most runs, most fifties and most hundreds in a season, apart from a plethora of other records. And his best season came in 2016 when he eclipsed everyone like the Sun and no player since 2016 has been able to come out of the shadow cast by him that season.
Kohli played 16 matches that season and scored 973 runs at an average of 81 and a strike rate of 152. Kohli went past fifty in 11 matches and converted four of them into a century - the most in a single IPL season. His team, however, couldn't win the trophy and the wait still continues. In fact, only twice has been the Orange Cap holder from the title-winning team - in 2014 when Robin Uthappa scored the most runs for eventual winner KKR and in 2021 when Ruturaj Gaikwad did the same for Chennai Super Kings.
The Kohli of 2016 was the best IPL has seen ever and Shubman Gill's monster season just reiterated the fact again.
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