“I thought all of their qualities were on display today. And it’s been a good number of years that that partnership has been flourishing,” Solanki said at the press conference after GT’s win. “It is on the back of a lot of hard work. I can only imagine all of the work that Shubman has put in throughout his career to get to where he is as far as his batting is concerned. He’s an exceptional young man. And sometimes you have to realise he’s still a young man. And be playing the cricket that he is, to be batting the way he is, is just phenomenal.
“And Sai is no less so. He might be a little younger in his journey, but you can see that he takes a fine example from Shubman and understands that actually his skills are what you and I might view as batsmanship, the sort of traditional form of batting. But there is no doubt in my mind that if a situation requires them to up the run rate and the wicket actually suits them playing that way, then they can adapt. And I think that’s their finest quality, their ability to adapt, given any sort of situation, given any wicket, given any opposition. That along with the fact that they have an immense appetite for run-scoring. Good habits to have.”
The appetite for runs has never been in doubt.
Gill and Sai Sudharsan now have 2944 runs together in the IPL. As partnerships go, that aggregate is only behind the 3123 runs AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli put up ten seasons (2011 to 2020). Gill and Sai Sudharsan have been together only since IPL 2022, when Sai Sudharsan was a bit player in GT’s maiden season.
In terms of strike rates this season, Gill has gone at 163.71 to Sai Sudharsan’s 159.55. Gill has also scored quicker in powerplays – 159.20 to 145.02.
“You go back to his work ethic, it’s second to none. From moment that he joined us – you could see he didn’t obviously make a start straightaway – it was very evident that he was an exceptional talent,” Solanki said of Sai Sudharsan. “There are a lot of talented people, but perhaps some don’t have the same work ethic that he does. He’s almost somebody that we have to hold back, which is a great quality.
“He is what I would call a student of the game. He studies the game, he studies his opposition, so he effectively leaves no stone unturned in terms of his preparation. And he’s been getting better and better, understanding his game a little bit better. He’s still got a lot of things to work on, part of sort of resting and understanding that he needs to find time to rest as well. There’s one point we’ve tried to stress to him. But you’d rather young people be that hungry and have an appetite for work like he has.”
With Gill, the class and the quality were never in doubt. What might have been was his mindset after being axed from the India T20I side – while being captain in the other two formats – ahead of the T20 World Cup earlier this year.
“It was exactly as it has been throughout the five years that he’s been a part of this group, he was preparing exactly as he has done before,” Solanki said of his captain. “He knows how to deal with all of those matters – success, failure, professional sport is about dealing with exactly that. He was very measured when he arrived in our camp, his preparation has been on point as it always is regardless of format. Regardless of whatever jersey he’s wearing, I’m pretty sure his preparation is on point.”
On Friday, GT’s target was very much within that upper ceiling, but it still needed work to get there. Gill is no Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, but he got the job done his way, with 104 in 53 balls. He hit 15 fours and three sixes to Sooryavanshi’s eight and seven, but ended up scoring at 196.22, not too far behind the 204.25 Sooryavanshi had while scoring 96 in 47 balls.
And now, both Gill and Sai Sudharsan have a realistic shot at overtaking Sooryavanshi when GT play the final – at their fortress in Ahmedabad – against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).
