'He's the next superstar of world cricket' - Shubman Gill's childhood coach Karsan Ghavri heaps praise on GT batter

Shubman Gill continued his sensational form in IPL 2023 as he brought up his third hundred of the season in Qualifier 2 on Friday, May 26 against Mumbai Indians. The 23-year-old scored a sensational 129 off 60 balls with the help of seven fours and ten sixes helping GT post a massive total of 233/3 in their allotted 20 overs. In the second innings, MI were bundled out for 171 in the second innings as Gujarat won the game by 62 runs.

During his knock, Gill also left behind Faf du Plessis to become the leading run-scorer of the season with 851 runs to his name from 16 matches at an average of 60.79 and a strike rate of 156.43. Recently, during an interview, Gill’s Childhood coach Karsan Ghavri revealed his first impression of the batting sensation and said that he was a very serious guy and was very disciplined.

“For an eleven-year-old, he looked like a very, very serious guy. Very quiet kid, he looked like a studious young fellow. He was very much into the game. And he has a very cool, good head on his shoulder, and is disciplined. He was a delight to watch and nothing has changed in the last twelve years. The penchant for scoring big runs is still there, and he still looks like someone who respects the game,” Ghavri was quoted as saying by IndianExpress.

Further talking about his technique, the former India pacer said that his top-hand grip allows him to get good elevation on his shots and hit sixes.

Gill is not a bottom-handed player: Karsan Ghavri

“See, he is not a bottom-handed player. His grip is top hand, and I think that grip, stance, and nimble footwork have helped him master the art of six-hitting. Those with the top-hand grip will always get those elevations, and we have seen that in Shubman’s batting. He is the next superstar for India and world cricket. He is still in the making but has taken those massive strides towards greatness,” he added.

During his knock, Gill also registered the highest individual score by a batter in IPL playoffs as he surpassed Virender Sehwag’s 122 that he had scored against CSK in Qualifier 2 of IPL 2014. The Punjab-born batter is also just 12 runs behind Jos Buttler (863 runs) to become the second-highest run-scorer in a single season of IPL.