Shubman Gill was spotted talking with Sachin Tendulkar after the match against MI, during which Gill received the Player of the Match award.
When Sunil Gavaskar had retired, world cricket had wondered, ‘who’s next’, and there was Sachin Tendulkar to rule the sport. In the twilight of his career, the question reignited and in walked Virat Kohli. And although the Run Machine is still far from bidding adieu to the sport, his heir-apparent has arrived. Earlier last week, Shubman Gill had eclipsed Kohli’s ton with his match-winning hundred and on Friday, in presence of the legendary Sachin, Gill showcased smashed his third century in IPL 2023. And even though in both cases the two veteran stars suffered heartbreaks, there was surely a smile and some admiration at watching a youngster rise, and ready to take world cricket by storm.
It has been Gill’s year. He entered this edition’s IPL on the back of a maiden T20I century in January, a Test hundred in the Border-Gavaskar series against Australia in February, and in between the two was a record double ton in ODIs.
The 23-year-old then continued his sublime form in IPL 2023 where he finally scored his maiden ton, at his beloved Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, before getting another one in the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Chinnaswamy Stadium and finally notched up his third, in just four innings, in the Qualifier 2 tie against Mumbai Indians which saw him achieve a number of milestones.
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The knock of 129 off just 60 balls now stands as the highest ever scored by a batter in the IPL playoffs. The score also took his run tally to 851 runs this season, making him the second Indian batter after Kohli to score 800 or more runs in a season, while his overall tally is now the third-best.
Following the game against MI, where Gill was presented with the Player of the Match award for his record knock as GT cruised to a second successive final after a 62-run win in Ahmedabad, the opener was seen having an intense chat with Sachin, mentor of MI side. The picture instantly went viral all over social media.
Here’s how Twitter reacted to Sachin Tendulkar’s chat with Shubman Gill after GT beat MI to storm into IPL 2023 final
“For me, it is playing ball to ball, over to over. The over where I hit three sixes gave me the momentum to go big. That’s when I realised it could be my day. It was a good wicket to bat on as well,” said Gill in the post-match presentation.
GT will now face Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 2023 final on Sunday at the same venue.