IPL 2023: 'You will get a tight slap from cricket' - Virender Sehwag lashes out at Shubman Gill

IPL 2023: Virender Sehwag has lashed out at Gujarat Titans (GT) opener Shubman Gill for his slow approach against Punjab Kings (PBKS) at the IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali on Thursday. The defending champions won the match by six wickets but took 19.5 overs to chase down the 154-run target.

Gill top-scored for the team with a 49-ball 67. He took 40 balls to complete his fifty and scored the last 16 runs of his knock off nine balls. Sehwag has asserted that one gets a "tight slap" from cricket as soon as he starts to put his individual goal higher than the team's goal.

"He scored 67 off 49 balls but when did he reach his fiifty? He reached his fifty off maybe 41-42 balls so in 7-8 balls he has scored 17 more runs. The acceleration came there, after he had reached his fifty. If even that had not happened then GT would have chasing maybe 17 instead off 7 in the last over," Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.

"You can't think let me score a fifty and we will anyway win the match. This is cricket. The moment you think about your own performance (instead of the team), you will get a tight slap from cricket. You can't think like that.

"If he had showed the same intent and played at close to a strike rate of 200 when he was nearing fifty then he could have reached his milestone a lot earlier and save more deliveries for his team," Sehwag added.

Cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has also reckoned that Gill could be asked how the game went to the final over. He also added that Gill should have shown the temperament and finished the game after taking it so deep.

“From this game, the takeaway is that if a batter is set, he should try and finish the game in the 18th or 19th over. If you are taking it till the end, show a temperament like MS Dhoni and don’t get out. Shubman Gill might be asked how the game went to the 20th over. Sai Sudharsan scored at a strike rate of around 100. David Miller was also rather quiet,” Manjrekar told ESPNcricinfo.

Post the match, Gill said that hitting the old ball for boundaries wasn't easy before adding that he should have finished the match.