Salman Butt, a former Pakistani captain, believes that Shubman Gill is the type of player that “cricket needs” after the young opener scored a double century in the 1st ODI against the kiwis. 

Salman Butt, a former captain of Pakistan, believes that Shubman Gill is the kind of player that “cricket needs” after the young opener crushed a double century in the opening ODI match against New Zealand on Wednesday. At the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, India defeated the Kiwis by a score of 12 runs thanks in large part to Gill’s 208 off 149 balls. He became the cricketer to reach a double century at the age of 20. Butt asserted that if Gill keeps up his current form, he has a chance to rank among the game’s all-time greats.

“I became a big fan of Shubman Gill ever since I saw him playing in the Test championship final against New Zealand. His elegance and style in his strokes are really commendable. The only concern I had was why isn’t able to achieve a big score. But he played a very different kind of cricket yesterday. Very less people have such type of finish in their style at such a young age. I think he is one of a kind. I am not saying that he has achieved everything in his career but if he continues to play like this and work hard then he will be on the path where he will achieve greatness,” Butt said on his YouTube channel.

Butt also compared Gill to a number of the game’s all-time greats, mostly because of the grace with which he bats in the middle. “The kind of game he played yesterday, he proved that he is not only about power-hitting but can also play a responsible inning as he kept on losing the major players at the other end. Cricket needs players like him as these days the players are losing the kind of touch Sachin Tendulkar, Mark Waugh, Saeed Anwar, and Jacques Kallis had. Cricket has lost its beauty, and the kind of innings he played is the real beauty of cricket,” he added.