Gujarat Titans right-arm pacer Lockie Ferguson felt young opener Shubman Gill’s century was close as he batted against Delhi Capitals at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium here on Saturday night.
The 30-year-old New Zealand pacer was the star in Gujarat Titans’ 14-run win against DC, but he picked 22-year-old Gill to bring the spotlight, who played a scintillating 46-ball 84. Help the IPL novices bat first and compete at 171/6 in 20 overs.
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Ferguson then bowled an inspired spell, taking four for 28 at an impressive economy rate of seven as DC could only manage 157/9 in reply.
Ferguson said after the match, “After playing with Gillie (Shubman Gill) at KKR and then here (Gujarat Titans), it was great to see his progress as a player.”
Gill was batting in the first innings of the night’s match. That is, dew. This means batting first was going to be more difficult than batting second, when the wet ball slides well on the bat. That difficulty was reflected in the Titans’ batting stats: a batting line-up full of power-hitters from top to bottom stifled even as Gill went into overdrive.
“There is no doubt that he (Gill) has incredible talent and so much time. I know, bowling to him in the nets, he has all the time in the world. But watching him tonight really expands him and gets a big total… I know he will be upset about not scoring the big century, as he will, but it is just around the corner. Exceptional batting tonight,” Ferguson said.
Gill scored a strike rate of 156 against fast bowlers, while against spin legends like Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav, he scored 45 runs in 21 balls at a strike rate of 214.28.
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