'Show temperament like MS Dhoni": Manjrekar schools Shubman Gill after GT's close win over PBKS in IPL 2023

Gujarat Titans (GT) edged past Punjab Kings (PBKS) in match 18 of the IPL 2023 edition on Thursday evening (April 13), at the IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali. Opting to bowl first, GT restricted Shikhar Dhawan-led Punjab for 153 for 8 courtesy of Mohit Sharma's 2 for 18. In reply, GT dominated the run-chase for a large part but Punjab bowlers stretched the game till the final over where Rahul Tewatia's timely hit (5 not out off 2 balls) propelled the defending champions to a six-wicket win with a ball to spare.

From GT, opener Shubman Gill top-scored with a 49-ball 67. While he continues to grow in stature with his consistency, questions still arise on his ability to finish a run-chase and strike big towards the latter stage of the innings. He reached 35 off 22 balls but slowed down considerably, with GT losing Sai Sudharshan and captain Hardik Pandya, during the fag end of the run-chase. As a result, Gill took another 18 balls to get to his fifty. Holding one end, he was expected to complete the run-chase but got dismissed in the final over, by Sam Curran, with GT still requiring six off four balls.

Thus, former cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has schooled Gill and asked him to take a leaf out of MS Dhoni, one of the greatest finishers of all-time.

Manjrekar, in conversation with ESPNCricinfo, said, "Champion teams are those who are mindful of their weak areas even when winning matches and tackle the same. Against KKR, there was a clear lesson for Gujarat that on the good pitch don’t play with only five bowlers."

He further opined, "From this game, the takeaway is that if a batter is set, he should try and finish the game in the 18th or 19th over. If you are taking it till the end, show a temperament like MS Dhoni and don’t get out. Shubman Gill might be asked how the game went to the 20th over. Sai Sudharsan scored at a strike rate of around 100. David Miller was also rather quiet."

Gill, too, spoke about his innings and said after the match, "It got slower with the old ball. So we needed to get off to a good start in the powerplay. We lost a bit of momentum when Hardik bhai got out. It wasn't a big score but it was important to rotate the strike and not have dot balls."

At the post-match presentation, Hardik pointed out, "To be very honest I would not appreciate for the game to go this deep. There was definitely a lot for us to learn from this game... It would have been a tough pill to swallow if the game had gone the other side. I would like to finish the game earlier, not a big fan of taking it to the last over."

Thus, Gill will be eager to remain unbeatenin GT's upcoming run-chases in IPL 2023 and also increase his strike rate as his inning progresses.