IPL 2023: Shubman Gill goes past Babar Azam after scoring a ton vs RCB

Gujarat Titans opener Shubman Gill smashed his second century of the IPL 2023 season on Sunday (May 21) against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). His knock dumped RCB's chances of making it to the playoffs and Mumbai Indians benefitted big time. Meanwhile, Gill broke several records and also smacked 600+ runs in a single IPL season for the first time. He also became only the fifth player to complete 600 runs in a single IPL season before turning 25 years old.

Meanwhile, Shubman Gill also become the youngest player in the history of T20 cricket to score 25 fifty-plus scores in the shortest format of the game. He has so far smashed four tons and 21 fifties in his T20 career and looks destined to go big in his career across all formats.

Coming back to his record, Gill went past Pakistan's Ahmed Shehzad and Babar Azam who had completed 25 fifty-plus scores in their T20 career at the age of 24 years 75 days and 24 years and 135 days respectively. On the other hand, Shubman Gill reached the said milestone at the age of 23 years and 255 days. Along with this, Gill also smashed a lot of other records during his knock. Gill became only the fourth player to score back to back centuries in IPL and also registered the highest score ever for GT.

Speaking about his performance in the match, he said, "I am in good form, it's about getting a start and then converting it into a big one. In the first half of the IPL, I was missing out on those big ones. I was getting a lot of 40s and 50s. Thankfully, it's all working out for me in the business end of the IPL. You need to keep playing shots in T20 cricket. You have to keep the intent and keep applying yourself, keep the belief.

The new ball was holding a bit, but it got easier to bat on. The ball was getting wet, it was difficult for their spinners to bowl. He (Shankar) was trying to hit too hard when he came in, I told him to hold his shape and just try to time it. Once he found the momentum, he's someone who can hit the ball a long way. I know my game and it's important for me to be in that area. For any player, it's important to know what kind of player you are and then just keep building on that. It's going to be an exciting one, playing against Chennai in Chennai. We have got a great bowling attack for that wicket in particular and hopefully we'll make it to the final for the second time."