"He is not a star in the making, he is already a superstar" - Aakash Chopra lauds Shubman Gill's century in Gujarat Titans' win vs Mumbai Indians

Aakash Chopra has lauded Shubman Gill for scoring a match-winning century for the Gujarat Titans (GT) in their IPL 2023 Qualifier 2 clash against the Mumbai Indians (MI).

Gill smashed 129 runs off 60 deliveries as GT set MI a mammoth 234-run target in Ahmedabad on Friday, May 26. The defending champions then bundled out Rohit Sharma and Co. for 171 to register a comprehensive 62-run win and book their berth in the final against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the same venue.

While reviewing the game in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra picked Gill as the most valuable player (MVP), elaborating:

"The most valuable player has to be Shubman Gill. He is India's present and future. He is not a star in the making, he is already a superstar. He has probably already played one of the finest knocks in this tournament's history, the third century of the season and this was in a knockout game."

The former Indian batter reckons the Gujarat Titans opener wanted to make amends for his failure to take his team across the line in Qualifier 1 against CSK, stating:

"When he got out in the last match while chasing against Chennai, it seems he was slightly hurt as the job was unfinished. He wanted to take his team directly to the final but would have to go through Ahmedabad now, would have to play Qualifier 2."

The Gujarat Titans failed to chase a 173-run target in Qualifier 1 in Chennai. Gill scored a 38-ball 42 in that game and was caught in the deep while trying to accelerate the scoring rate.

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"It seemed this is Shubman Gill's world and we are just living in it" - Aakash Chopra

Shubman Gill struck seven fours and 10 sixes during his innings. [P/C: iplt20.com]

Aakash Chopra praised Shubman Gill for pacing his innings perfectly, explaining:

"At the start, everyone was saying that it was a slightly tacky pitch because of which Mumbai opted to bat. He was giving a little respect to the bowlers at the start but after that the way he batted - the dominance and aggression, it seemed this is Shubman Gill's world and we are just living in it."

The cricketer-turned-commentator concluded by pointing out that Tim David's dropped catch helped cricketing aficionados watch an unbelievable knock, saying:

"Of course, he got a life. Tim David should have held that catch but in the end, you felt it was good that the catch was not taken or else we would have been deprived of seeing such a good knock. The batting quality was unbelievable."

David dropped a slightly tough catch at mid-on off Chris Jordan's bowling when Gill was on 30. It proved to be an extremely costly miss as the stylish batter's knock eventually knocked MI out of the tournament.