Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) opener Shubman Gill who had a great IPL 2020 as he scored 440 runs in 14 matches at an average of 33.84, could not quite continue his form in this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) as he struggled to score in all 7 matches.

While the KKR team management backed the right-hand batsman to score big, former India batsman Sunil Gavaskar told Gill to just relax and not take pressure of expectations as he is ‘just a 21-year-old kid’.

“I think what I feel about Shubman Gill is that suddenly, the pressure of expectation is getting to him. Before this, it was different. He was just a young promising newcomer, but now with the performances in Australia, the expectation is that he is going to score, and maybe that pressure of expectation is weighing him down,” Gavaskar told Star Sports.

Aakash Chopra explains what went wrong with IPL 2021 compared to the 2020 edition in UAE

“He just needs to relax. He is just a 21-year-old kid. There will be failures and he has to learn from those failures. He’s just got to open and play freely, without worrying about expectations. The runs will come if he plays his natural game,” he added.

The 71-year-old then talked about how the weight of expectations has affected his game as he said, “Trying to play across the line and trying to score off every delivery because of the pressure of expectation, he’s actually getting himself out.”

Gill has been named in the 20-man squad that will be travelling to England to play the World Test Championship final against New Zealand followed by a five-match Test series against England. Thus, it will be worth watching how the right-hand batsman performs in England.

(With Star Sports inputs)