Salman Butt Compares Shubman Gill To Roger Federer, Says ‘ It’s Hard To Find Players Like Him’

New Delhi: The supremely talented Shubman Gill caught the eyeballs with a breathtaking double century against New Zealand in the first ODI to help India beat New Zealand by 12 runs in a high-scoring thriller. Gill joined the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Chris Gayle, Martin Guptill, Fakhar Zaman and Ishan Kishan in the elite list of players with double centuries. Gill also became the fastest Indian batter to reach 1000 ODI runs, with three centuries in just 19 games.

Former Pakistan batter Salman Butt was in awe of Shubman Gill and called himself a fan of the right-hand batter. Praising Gill, Butt said that touch players like Gill often go unnoticed as the power hitters hog most of the limelight but players like him bring a lot of grace to the game.

“I have been a fan of Gill ever since he played in that World Test Championship final against New Zealand in England due to the time that he has and the elegance and the finish that he has in his strokes. You won’t see many touch players like him in international cricket. There is talk of only power hitters everywhere these days,” said Butt on his YouTube Channel.

Butt also compared Gill’s playing style to Tennis legend Roger Federer.

“This is a different kind of cricket that Gill is playing. It is almost like Roger Federer who plays his shots with incredible quality and touch. The finesse that Shubman Gill has shown in his game is very rare in players with such a young age. He is one of his kind and there is a glimpse of greatness,” highlighted Butt.

“It was not just about his touch shots but also about the way he scored his runs despite all major batters getting out at the other end at regular intervals. The way he picked and chose his shots and the bowlers to target showed that his game has already developed to a greater extent,” he added.