Three years into his Indian Premier League (IPL) journey, Shubman Gill is already a mainstay in Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batting unit. Starting in the middle-order, he has walked up solely on the based of his performance. Recently, Gill opened up on his batting position for KKR in IPL 2020.
Meanwhile, the Knight Riders will begin their journey on September 23 against defending champions Mumbai Indians. While it looked like they will miss England and Australian cricketers in the first game, but CEO Venky Mysore confirmed that the cricketers will be available for selection from the tournament opener.
Gill opens up about his batting position in IPL 2020
Shubman Gill has attained massive success opening the batting for Kolkata. Speaking about his batting position in IPL 2020, Gill said that wherever he bats, his role will be to carry the innings. The youngsters also added that he needs to guide the innings so that big-hitters like Andre Russell, Eoin Morgan, and Dinesh Karthik can bat around him.
“My role will be the same as what I did at the end of last season when I was opening… To guide the whole innings till the end. That would be my role if I open and neither will it change if I open with a conventional batsman or a [pinch-hitter like] Narine. I don’t think [being the senior opener] will really change my batting mindset, “ Gill told ESPNcricinfo.
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Furthermore, Shubman Gill reckoned that batting in the lower-order for Kolkata was learning curve for him. Incidentally, he has never batted in the lower-order in his career, and that experience helped Gill learn a different aspect of the sport.
“It was a game-changing experience for me because I’ve never batted that [low] down the order,” Gill said. “It really helped me grow as a batsman if I look at it that way, because it helped me look at the game from different angles and understand different aspects of the game,” he added.
Shubman Gill, who was awarded the Emerging Player of last IPL will also be a part of the leadership group, confirmed head coach Brendon McCullum. It will be interesting to see how the 21-year-old performs and also push his case for the national team.
