Can Shubman Gill break Virat Kohli’s massive record in CSK vs GT IPL 2023 final?

Gujarat Titans (GT) opener Shubman Gill has been in exceptional form in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. He is the Orange Cap holder, having hammered 851 runs in 16 matches at an average of 60.78 and a strike rate of 156.43. The 23-year-old has notched up as many as three hundreds apart from four fifties.

Astonishingly, the three tons have come in his last four innings. Gill registered his maiden IPL century when he smashed 101 off 58 balls against SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Ahmedabad. He followed it up with 104* off 52 balls in a chase of 198 in Bengaluru to knock out Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) from IPL 2023.

After being dismissed for 42 off 38 against CSK at the MA Chidambaram Stadium at Chepauk in Qualifier 1, he smacked a sensational 129 off only 60 balls in Qualifier 2 against Mumbai Indians (MI) in Ahmedabad.

The knock confirmed a berth for GT in the IPL 2023 final as they went on to hammer MI by 62 runs. With the special effort, he also went past RCB skipper Faf du Plessis (730) on the list of leading run-getters in IPL 2023.

While Gill has more than 850 runs to his name in the ongoing edition, he is still well short of Virat Kohli’s record for most runs in an IPL season. The latter clobbered 973 runs in 16 matches for RCB during the IPL 2016 edition. Kohli notched up four hundreds and seven fifties, scoring his runs at an average of 81.08 and a strike rate of 152.03.

For Gill to break Kohli’s record, the GT opener will need to score 123 runs in the IPL 2023 final against Chennai Super Kings on Sunday - somewhat improbable, but definitely not impossible given the batter’s exceptional form with the willow.

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Will Shubman Gill go past Jos Buttler?

In the overall list, Gill currently stands third among batters who have scored the most runs in an IPL season. While Kohli leads the illustrious list, Rajasthan Royals (RR) opener Jos Buttler is second.

The England batter hammered 863 runs in 17 matches during IPL 2022 at an average of 57.53 and a strike rate of 149.05. Buttler scored four hundreds and as many fifties in last year’s edition.

If Gill scores 13 runs in the IPL 2023 final, he will surpass Buttler and move to the No. 2 position. David Warner (848 runs for SRH in IPL 2016) is the only other batter to have scored over 800 runs in a single IPL season.