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Cricket Players'His role should be something like last year': Sehwag says KKR batter is a 'long-format player', suggests changes
IPL 2021:' At the moment, he's playing with very hard hands where neither he's been able to time the ball nor collect runs,' Sehwag added.
Shubman Gill's form in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League 2021 season has left a lot to be desired. The Kolkata Knight Riders opener has figures of 15, 33, 21, 0, and 11, and his strike rate of 121.21 has further posed major troubles for KKR at the top of the batting order. Gill scored 11 runs in 19 balls against Rajasthan Royals on Saturday, and his slow innings set up the momentum for RR bowlers, who restricted KKR to just 132/9 in 20 overs. (IPL 2021 Full Coverage)
Former India opener Virender Sehwag feels KKR need to change their batting order, and send a hard-hitting batter like Sunil Narine, Rahul Tripathi or Andre Russell at the top with Gill.
Also read: KKR Predicted XI vs PBKS: One change each in top, middle-order likely
"See, I feel he's a long-format player like the ODIs and Tests. In T20s, one has to hit boundaries at will. Either this, or you play a role where you don't have to hit boundaries but just play safely at one end. That's why I suggest that KKR put him at one end and push Nitish Rana at 4 and open with Sunil Narine or Rahul Tripathi who can cash in on the powerplay for Shubman Gill," Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.
"Because if Shubman Gill can play out the first six overs he can easily hit boundaries against the likes of (Rahul) Tewatia and Shivam Dube," Virender Sehwag added.
"At the moment, he's playing with very hard hands where neither he's been able to time the ball nor collect runs. He's the kind of player who depends on timing to find gaps and if that doesn't go his way, he tends to build pressure on himself," Sehwag further said.
"His role should be something like last year, where he hogs at one end, and Sunil Narine, Rahul Tripathi, and Andre Russell hit boundaries at will from the other end.
KKR have now lost four out of their first five games and are lying at the bottom of the table. Sehwag said that KKR should start thinking that they are out of the tournament if they do not win games, and should experiment with the playing XI.
"If not, then there's only one solution: he has played 5-6 matches, KKR should sit him out and try to find a replacement. KKR should now think as they have already lost the tournament and focus on making some new changes," Sehwag said.
"This could be promoting Sunil Narine or Andre Russell in the batting order, which are strategies that have worked for them in the past and might work again," Sehwag signed out.
