'I like it when they come to watch' - Shubman Gill opens up on playing in front of family

The IPL 2023 final between Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans finally got underway on Monday, May 29 after relentless rain on the previous day pushed the game into the reserve day. Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni won the toss and invited Gujarat to bat first in the big game.

Ahead of the final, GT opener Shubman Gill shared his thoughts on the game being shifted to the reserve day and said that it is "mentally exhausting" as the entire team was pumped up to play the game on Sunday.

"Not too easy nor difficult. We were all pumped to play the match yesterday. We didn't have any physical activity, so it felt mentally exhausting, but physically you are fine. We want to play it like just another match and get the job done," Shubman Gill told IPL broadcasters ahead of the final.

Further talking about playing in front of his family in the stadium, Gill said that he loves when his family comes to support him and doesn’t feel under pressure at all. 

"I like when the family comes to watch the match. I don't feel either much pressure nor less pressure in their presence. It gets exciting playing in front of the family as your good moments become even better," Gill added.

Meanwhile, Gill once again looked in great touch in the final as he played a quickfire knock of 39 off 20, smashing seven fours in his innings. However, his innings was cut short by MS Dhoni’s lightning-fast glove work, who stumped him to give CSK their first success.

Gill surpasses Jos Buttler to record second-most number of runs in an IPL season

The 23-year-old entered record books as he finished his season with 890 runs from 17 innings at an average of 59.33 and a strike rate of 157.80, with three hundreds and four fifties to his name. Gill left behind Jos Buttler (863 runs in 2022) to record the second-most number of runs in a single IPL season. Former RCB skipper Virat Kohli sits on top of the list with 973 runs to his name in the 2016 season.

Coming back to the match, after being put in to bat first, Gujarat posted a massive score of 214/4 in their allotted 20 overs. Sai Sudharsan played a magnificent innings of 96 off 47 balls while Wriddhiman Saha scored 54 off 39 balls. Matheesha Pathirana returned with figures of 2/44 in four overs.