Gill, who is currently battling a calf injury that is keeping him out of the South Africa tour, was released by the KKR management, who retained Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer and Varu Chakraborty.
Once touted as the future captain of KKR, the 22-year-old Indian opener was joined by the likes of Eoin Morgan, Dinesh Karthik, Rahul Tripathi and Nitish Rana.
“The kind of bond I have with the KKR franchise is really something special to me,” Gill said in a short film titled ‘Love, Faith and Beyond’.
“Once you join a franchise you want to go and play with them forever…and if I was able to play in purple and gold, I would play forever,” he said. said.
Bought for Rs 1.8 crore ahead of IPL 2018, an 18-year-old Gill rose to prominence in the first season with KKR, scoring 203 runs in 13 matches at a strike-rate of 146.04.
But he was later criticized for his poor conversion rate, while his strike-rate also dropped, as he has played 58 matches for the franchise so far in which he has scored 1417 runs at a strike rate of 123.00.
“Every year you can’t have all the best teammates or all the best players or all your best friends in a team. Instead of bragging about the fact that we don’t have them, we should cherish the time we spent with them.” ,” said Gill.
The 11-minute short film is KKR’s tribute to some of the best and most talented players who were a part of the franchise.
“Ideally, there are a lot of players you want to retain, but it doesn’t work that way,” said KKR MD and CEO Venky Mysore.
“They are a group of highly gifted kids, very motivated, grounded and have a deep desire to succeed.”
KKR assistant coach Abhishek Nair said: “Shivam Mavi, the famous Krishna and Kamlesh Nagarkoti, will never forget this franchise, as it stood by them when no one else did.
“When KKR invested in the youth, their vision was purely to make people feel more connected to the franchise. KKR wanted the players to know that it is about the franchise that takes care of the players and helps them grow and become better cricketers.”
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