Gujarat Titans skipper Hardik Pandya said Shubman Gill hitting centuries consistently in IPL 2023 is making the art of reaching three-figure mark look as easy as having breakfast regularly.Gill slammed a majestic 129 with the help of ten sixes and seven fours while taking Mumbai's bowlers to cleaners all over the park as Gujarat posted 223/3, which is also his third century of the ongoing season, thus leading the side's 62-run win over Mumbai Indians in Qualifier 2 and set up a meeting with Chennai Super Kings in Sunday's final.
"He's making a habit of scoring 100s and he's making it look like it's just breakfast for him. I have been fortunate to see a lot of T20 100s. But what I saw (in this match), was one of the finest I have ever seen. Every time we saw him play those 55 (60) balls, we were like that's a hell of a shot. Very, very, very proud of him," said Pandya during the post-match interaction with Gill in a video posted on IPL's Twitter account.
Pandya also predicted that Gill, currently the leading run-getter in IPL 2023, will soon become one of the biggest superstars of the game."Sometimes we have to stop this person because he does a lot of batting. I get scared seeing him bat that much. He deserves every success.
This man's gonna be an amazing cricketer, not just in franchise cricket but for India as well. He's already one but he's gonna be the biggest superstar," the GT skipper said.Talking about his stunning turnaround in form, Gill said getting first IPL century against Sunrisers Hyderabad was a turning point. Since then, Gill scored three centuries in his last four innings of IPL 2023.
"In the first half of the IPL, I was getting those starts. But I wasn't able to convert them so I knew it was all about getting that one hundred and I knew when I'll get that one hundred it's all about mental switch and then you start thinking and playing differently, and that's what worked for me," he said.
Gill also shared about how he manages to stick to his basics of batting amidst a hectic IPL schedule."I feel when you play a lot of matches, some things change. You don't realise it because you are trying to do certain things while you are playing and if you don't keep working on your basics when you are playing a lot, we all know how cruel this game is, three odd matches where you don't score and you feel like shit, where are you in this game," the Titans opener said.
"I keep trying to work on my basics, keep trying to go back. My hands, my back lift, my feet, my head position so that there's always a habit of me being in a good base and position and not getting carried away with bad habits that you pick," he added.The 23-old batter also revealed what Pandya told him after he joined the franchise last year.
"Last year, before starting the IPL, he (Hardik) was the first person who came to me and said, 'you play how you want to play' and I feel before getting a chance to play for GT, sometimes I felt I was trying to play as someone that I wasn't and he gave me that confidence be able to play how I wanted to play. It felt great," said Gill.