Shubman Gill
Shubman Gill. (Photo: IPL)

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) opener Shubman Gill was awarded man of the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the 49th game of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday, October 3.

Shubman Gill

Winning toss and batting first, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) were able to score 115 runs with only 3 batsmen crossing the 20 runs mark. Kane Williamson scored 26, Abdul Samad scored 25 and Priyam Garg managed to score 21 runs.

Chasing the target Venkatesh Iyer was dismissed in the 5th over and Rahul Tripathi lost his wicket in the 7th over. However, opener Gill was batting brilliantly in one end and he even scored a half-century.

Eoin Morgan and Dinesh Karthik
Eoin Morgan and Dinesh Karthik (Image Credit: Twitter)

At the end former Kolkata Knight Riders captain Dinesh Karthik and current KKR captain, Eoin Morgan led the team towards a 6 wickets victory to earn two important points.

It Was Important To Keep The Wickets In Hand – Shubman Gill

Shubman Gill
Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer in action. (Image: Twitter)

Shubman Gill after winning man of the match for his 57 runs off 51 balls said that it was crucial to keep wickets in hand during the chase. He stated:

“It was important to keep the wickets in hand, and when the balls and runs were closer then just take it easy. It was important to assess the wicket.”

Gill told that hitting spinners on the Dubai surface was not at all easy so he targetted the shorter boundaries. Shubman Gill elaborated:

“It wasn’t easy to hit the spinners on this wicket. I was targetting the shorter side, and the leg-side was shorter than the off-side at one end..”

He added:

“When I didn’t have much runs under the belt, you don’t want the opposition to gain the upper hand.”

Meanwhile, Gill also feels that a batter needs to play with the wrists on the slow wickets and he has got that natural skill. Shubman Gill stated:

“When you play on slower wickets, it’s more important to play with the wrists and that comes naturally to me. I took on the extra pace (of Umran) today and it came off in this game, but in another game, it might not.”

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Sonanchal Gautam is the Assistant Content Manager at Cricketaddictor. He is a professional Wrestling and Hip-hop enthusiast.