Former West Indies skipper Brian Lara has backed an under fire Shubman Gill, urging KKR not drop him from the playing eleven. Gill is one of future stars of Indian cricket but the level of performance being dished out by him in the tournament is a bit low. So far he has accounted for 232 runs in 11 games which meant his average looks a lowly 21.
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“This guy (Shubman Gill), he is a bit unlucky, if you look at him bat, he is in some form, alright. And I believe he’s just a match away from a big score. I think he gels really well with Iyer (Venkatesh) and I believe that both of them can come together and make something special, but replacing Shubman Gill now is not something that KKR wants to do,” said Lara on Star Sports’ show Game Plan. KKR take on Punjab Kings in tonight’s clash. Speaking about Punjab, the stylish southpaw opined that they are not playing upto their potential as they certainly have the ability to do well. There was also a major development in their camp as Chris Gayle has pulled out of the tournament.
“Yeah I think so, they have the capability. They are not playing great cricket at the moment. Their batting has just always been their strength and that has come up very short. Nicholas Pooran, and Chris Gayle got out on a couple of opportunities even their captain as well KL Rahul and they miss Mayank Agarwal. So for me, their batting is the one thing that they depended on in the past. They post big totals and try to defend it and if they don’t post big totals, they find it very difficult with the bowling attack that they have,” he said.
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Despite all the negatives, Punjab can really look forward to one positive—youngster Ravi Bishnoi who has impressed with his spin; at times he has dared to experiment with the flight in his deliveries and they have fetched him big wickets. Here’s what Lara said on Bishnoi:
“Ravi Bishnoi is performing well and Mohammed Shami as you know is a professional and they expect that from him. Their batting has to be clicking and if they do click they give themselves that slight chance, it doesn’t mean that they can pull it off but they give themselves a better chance than they have been giving themselves in recent matches."
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