Former Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin has praised Gujarat Titans’ opening pair of Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan after seven-wicket win against Rajasthan Royals at New Chandigarh on Friday.

Ashwin said the duo was able to put the game to bed after they took 19 runs in the opening over, which was bowled by Jofra Archer. Chasing 215 runs for a place in the final, GT openers scored 69 runs in the Powerplay overs.

Gill and Sudharsan continued their rich form, adding 167 runs off 77 balls  for their opening alliance. This was their 11th century-run stand and now they have leapfrogged Virat Kohli-AB de Villiers’ record of 10 century-run partnerships.

Ashwin said on his YouTube Channel, “Jofra Archer gave away 19 runs from the first over. The game ended there. You can afford to give 19 or 20 runs and still come back into the game against SRH because they play in just one tempo and don’t think about building the innings. But if you start like this against Sai Sudharsan and Shubman Gill, they will murder you.”

Ashwin hailed GT skipper Shubman Gill for showing an upward swing in his improvement graph in T20s. Gill scored a match-winning knock of 104 runs off just 53 balls against RR to help his team get over the line.

He added, “The improvement shown by Shubman Gill in this IPL is a lesson for everyone. He is an attritional batter and always scores volumes of runs for the Orange Cap, but he knew that he had to score quicker this time. He created options within the powerplay.”

Ashwin praised Gill for playing the pull shot with aplomb against RR fast bowlers.

He concluded, “He is the king of pull shots. The way he plays the pull shot, it’s not his weakness, but Jofra Archer tested him twice with the short ball. Tushar Deshpande also tested it and got hit.”

Gill has scored 722 runs in 15 matches of IPL 2026.