Shubman Gill’s release from KKR will go down as the biggest blunder a franchise has made: Scott Styris

Despite playing reasonably well for Kolkata Knight Riders, the two-time champions released Shubman Gill ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction. The franchise preferred Venkatesh Iyer over Gill after the prior played a very crucial role in helping the team qualify for the 2021 finals. Later on, Gujarat Titans took advantage of the situation and signed Gill ahead of the mega auction, as the cricketer went on to win the championship with the Hardik Pandya-led side in 2022.

In 2023, the 23-year-old has already hit 851 runs in 16 matches and with that, he is currently leading in the IPL Orange Cap race. He has helped GT to qualify for yet another final and with that, former New Zealand international Scott Styris believes that KKR parting ways with him in 2022 may go down as one of the biggest blunders by a franchise in IPL history.

The 47-year-old also added that Gill is still young and has the potential to become the ‘backbone’ of the Indian team in the coming years.

Gill is still a very young man, he has got a lot of growth in his game: Styris

Furthermore, the former New Zealand all-rounder name-dropped KL Rahul, who was also dropped from the Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise, Scott Styris believes the move proved very costly for the IPL franchise. Besides lauding Shubman Gill for his IPL performances, Styris made a bold prediction by saying that the Fazilika-born will become the backbone of the Indian team in international cricket going forward.

“I still believe that his release from KKR will go down as the biggest blunder a franchise has made. The only other one was KL Rahul from RCB. However, there is an age advantage here. Gill is still a very young man, he has got a lot of growth in his game,” Styris told Jio Cinema.

“He can not only be the star for this GT star, especially after the next World Cup, he will be the backbone of this Indian side. And I think he will embrace that,” he added.

Notably, after the completion of the IPL 2023, Gill be travelling to England as India are all set to face Australia in the World Test Championship final, which is slated to begin on June 7, at the Oval. In the absence of KL Rahul, the cricketer is expected to open alongside Rohit Sharma and given his form, he can eventually help India win their first ICC trophy in 10 years.