Former New Zealand cricketer Scott Styris has said that the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) not retaining young batter Shubman Gill before the IPL 2022 auction is one of the biggest blunders a franchise has made in IPL history.
Gill, who made his Indian Premier League debut for KKR in IPL 2018, played as a finisher for the first two years of his career while moving up to open in IPL 2021. He played 58 games for them and made 1417 runs for them with 10 half-centuries.
He was let go by the KKR franchise ahead of the mega auction in IPL 2022 and was picked by Gujarat Titans outside the auction. Gill then scored 483 runs in GT’s IPL 2022 title-winning run including the highest score of 96.
However, he fully came into his own in the IPL 2023, where he is the Orange Cap holder for most runs with 851 runs to his name in 16 matches with three centuries and 4 fifties to his name at an average of 60.79 and strike rate of 156.43. He has hit 78 fours and 33 sixes so far in the tournament.
He became only the fourth batter in IPL history to hit two consecutive centuries in the tournament after Shikhar Dhawan, Jos Buttler, and Virat Kohli.
He recently scored his third century of the season to help Gujarat Titans defeat the Mumbai Indians in Qualifier 2 to put his team into the final of the IPL 2023.
Former New Zealand cricketer Scott Styris believes that Gill's release from KKR "will go down as the biggest blunder a franchise has made". Styris added that the 23-year-old Gill would become the "backbone" of the Indian team.
"I still believe that his release from KKR will go down as the biggest blunder a franchise has made. The only other one was KL Rahul from RCB. However, there is an age advantage here. Gill is still a very young man, he has got a lot of growth in his game.
He can not only be the star for this GT star, especially after the next World Cup, but he will also be the backbone of this Indian side. And I think he will embrace that," Styris said on JioCinema.
Styris also praised Gill for making tweaks to his game and converting his starts. Gill, according to the former cricketer, resembles Virat Kohli's younger version since he has good game management.
"We have seen the evolution of Baby GOAT, from his KKR days to now in GT. He was getting started, and out of nowhere, he would get out. But he is converting those. He has made the adjustments to his game. He has taken the responsibility, he is happy to be the mainstay of this batting line-up. And he is looking like Virat Kohli back in the day as well, in the sense that he is in total control of his game. He is not having to thrash the ball or go after the bowling. He just hits the bad ball," Styris said.
Gill is expected to be seen in action when Gujarat Titans clash with Chennai Super Kings in the final of the IPL 2023 on the reserve day on May 29, 2023.
