Rising Indian batting star Shubman Gill continued his purple patch in the Indian Premier League 2023, scoring his second successive hundred yesterday, which saw the Gujarat Titans knock out Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore from the tournament.
A section of RCB's fans reportedly attacked Gill and his sister Shahneel on social media, spamming the pair's posts and posting hateful content as well. The negative comments, however, were quickly drowned out by an outpouring of support for the duo.
"What a wholesum day," Gill's sister Shahneel had posted on Instagram, while sharing a few pictures from the match. A number of fans wrote hateful comments on the post for both Shahneel and Shubman.
Many fans took to Twitter and slammed those hurling abuse and the hate speech. Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar also posted a tongue-in-cheek Tweet lauding Gill for his great batting performance for the 'Mumbai Indians', congratulating Cameron Gren and Kohli as well.
While some rabid Kohli stans might not have been happy to see Gill's ton put an end to RCB's campaign, there was absolutely no animosity between him and the former Indian skipper. After the match, Kohli was seen acknowledging Gill's knock with a hug.
"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," Gill said after the match.
GT skipper Hardik Pandya was full of praise for Gill and Kohli in the post-match presentation ceremony.
"He knows when he plays those cricketing shots and bats like a batter, it's a different Shubman Gill. Today, the kind of options he picked and the kind of places where he was hitting, as a bowler he doesn't give any chance. That makes him very special and the other batter gets confidence from him as well. We would have taken 197 at the start, but we didn't bowl well. Special innings from Virat, he batted well but we went too early for death bowling," he said.
The defending champions Gujarat Titans will now face Chennai Super Kings in the Qualifier 1 tomorrow, hoping to book their spot in the May 28 final.
