Shubman Gill admits he couldn’t control his emotions in aggressive send-off to Venkatesh Iyer as GT crush KKR
You don’t always see Gujarat Titans captain Shubman Gill getting involved in wild celebrations after getting an opposition batter out. He does not shy away from having a word with the umpire if he feels his team was hard done by but giving a send-off to an opponent has not been his cup of tea. But such was the importance and the emotions attached to GT’s away fixture against the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata that Gill didn’t hold back. KKR all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer was at the receiving end of Gill’s aggression.
In the 12th over of KKR’s 200-run chase, GT left-spinner Sai Kishore tossed one up to Iyer, inviting the left-hander to go for the big shot. Iyer, struggling for momentum, went for the big slog, attempting to use the match-up in his favour but Kishore was smart enough to hold the ball in his palm a little longer. Iyer didn’t find any pace on the ball. His timing was off the charts and all he managed to do was slog sweep it straight to the deep square leg fielder.
As soon as Washington Sundar took the catch, Gill was pumped up, fists flinging everywhere, and screams could be heard from the Eden stands. The GT captain also hurled a few words before running to Kishore and thumping his chest.
Iyer put his head down and took the long walk back after scoring just 14 runs off 19 balls. KKR were 84/3 in 11.3 overs when GT dismissed Iyer and Gill said he believed that was the moment they “closed out” the match. They indeed did. KKR, who never matched the required rate of 10 runs per over in a poorly planned chase, were restricted to 159 for 8 in their 20 overs. GT won the match by 39 runs to strengthen their position at the top of the points table. With 12 points in 8 matches, GT have taken giant steps towards ensuring a playoff berth.
Shubman Gill reveals reasons behind aggressive send-off to Venkatesh Iyer
After winning the match, Gill was asked to reveal the reasons behind his aggressive celebration after getting the wicket of Iyer. The GT captain said his emotions came out as it was an important moment in the game. “We were ahead in the game, but it’s one thing to be ahead and another to close the game. Good teams when they are chasing or defending, close the game very well. So that was just some of my emotions coming out,” Gill said.
Gill made 90 off 55 balls, and his opening partner, Sai Sudharsan, scored his fifth 50-plus score of the season with 52 in Gujarat’s challenging total of 198-3. “Very pleased. We spoke about these two matches – that they’re going to decide where we stand on the table. Very pleased to get these two wins back to back.”
Gill and Sudharsan perfectly assessed the tricky surface with their occasional aggressiveness. Gill, who lost the toss, missed out on a century but paced the innings nicely with left-hander Sudharsan. They combined for 114 runs then Jos Buttler hit a rampant unbeaten 41 off 23 balls with eight boundaries.
Gill and Sudharsan completed half-centuries in almost identical style, hitting a dozen boundaries and two sixes between them. Kolkata couldn’t separate them until the 13th over.
Sudharsan, taking 34 balls for his fifty, perished soon after when he cut Russell’s short ball and got a thin outside edge.
Gill’s 33-ball half-century included 29 runs off 12 balls. He was out swatting Vaibhav Arora’s low full toss to Rinku Singh in the outfield in the 18th over.
“We just want to play our best game whenever we’re out there. We never talk about that one of us has to stay till the end. We just talk about how we can score runs in these conditions and how to take the game deep.”