Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt heaped praise on Shubman Gill after the young Indian opener smoked a record-breaking double hundred in the first ODI against New Zealand at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on January 18.
Butt feels "cricket needs a player" like Gill and suggested that if the young opener continues to play like this, he can become one of the greats of the game in the future.
Butt said on his YouTube channel: “I became a big fan of Shubman Gill ever-since I saw him playing in the Test championship final against New Zealand. His elegance and style in his strokes are really commendable. The only concern I had was that why isn't he able to achieve a big score.”
He further added, “But he played a very different kind of cricket yesterday. Very less people have such type of finish in their style at such a young age. I think he is one of his kind. I am not saying that he has achieved everything in his career but if he continues to play like this and work hard then he will be on the path where he will achieve greatness.”
Butt mentioned that Gill has the kind of touch that legends like Sachin Tendulkar and Mark Waugh used to have, making him one of the game's best young players to watch. The former captain added, “The kind of game he played yesterday, he proved that he is not only about power-hitting but can also play a responsible innings as he kept on losing the major players at the other end.”
He signed off by saying, “Cricket needs player like him as these days the players are losing the kind of touch Sachin Tendulkar, Mark Waugh, Saaed Anwar, Jacques Kallis had. Cricket has lost its beauty, and the kind of innings he played is the real beauty of cricket.”
