IPL 2019: Harsha Bhogle wants Shubman Gill to bat up the order for KKR

Shubman Gill was roped in by the Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2018 edition of the Indian Premier League. He missed a few matches but got into the eleven. However, most of the times, he batted lower down the order, and hence, didn’t get many chances to show his class. He was promoted to bat at number four in KKR’s home match against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and he didn’t disappoint.

The Fazilka-born scored his maiden IPL half-century to help his team win the match. To his dismay, in the ongoing season, Gill has batted at number seven on most instances. In Kolkata’s seventh match against the Delhi Capitals (DC), Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine didn’t play and hence, Shubman was entrusted to open with IPL debutant Joe Denly. He rose to the occasion and scored 65 runs from 39 deliveries.

He can’t go back to the depths of No. 6 or 7 again

His knock was laced with seven boundaries and two sixes. In the very next match against the Super Kings, Gill was again pushed down and he could only get 15 runs from 20 balls before perishing to Shardul Thakur. In the meantime, renowned cricket journalist Harsha Bhogle feels that Gill should be persisted with at the top.

“Injuries aren’t helping them but the silver lining was that it forced KKR to move Shubman Gill up the order and his class was there to see. He can’t go back to the depths of No. 6 or 7 again and maybe the finisher role there might be assigned to Nitish Rana,” Bhogle wrote in The Times of India (TOI).

Bhogle also expressed concerns over KKR’s bowling attack and mentioned that with the magician Sunil Narine not being in his prime and Kuldeep Yadav not picking up wickets frequently, Dinesh Karthik, the KKR captain, is lacking a bowler, who can run through a batting lineup.

“In KKR’s best years, Sunil Narine was a four-over bank at the old Eden Gardens. He isn’t the same threat now and with Kuldeep Yadav having a rare spell without wickets, the captain is looking for a bowler he can close the game with,” he added.

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