Ajay Jadeja criticized Shubman Gill for downplaying 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi's century in an IPL match. Despite Suryavanshi's remarkable performance, Gill attributed it to luck, which Jadeja found dismissive. Jadeja emphasized the significance of Suryavanshi's achievement against top bowlers, highlighting the young player's potential and the importance of encouraging such talent.
In the 47th match of the IPL between Gujarat Titans and Rajasthan Royals on Monday, 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi scored a century in 35 balls. After the match, when Gujarat Titans captain Shubman Gill was asked about Vaibhav's smashing innings against his team, he did not say anything special.
Thanks to Vaibhav's blistering innings, Rajasthan Royals successfully chased down the target of 210 runs. However, speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Shubman Gill did not praise Suryavanshi, but only said that today was his day, which helped him do what he did.
Speaking to the broadcaster after the match, Shubman Gill said, "It was his lucky day. His batting was very good and he made the most of his day." However, former India cricketer Ajay Jadeja was not impressed by Gill's talk. Ajay denied that luck was behind Suryavanshi's performance. Jadeja was expected to say more from Gill, even though the youngster's innings cost his team dearly.
During a post-show Jadeja said, "A 14-year-old kid should believe in himself, and take him so far, even if one day a player on television says, 'Oh, it was their lucky day'."
Jadeja later spoke at length about Suryavanshi's achievements on the field and said that to score an IPL century at the age of 14 against some of the best bowlers in the world is really a great achievement. "All of us who have played cricket have always dreamt of cricket in a certain way, either in our drawing room or when we are playing with friends. That's the dream you dream of. At the age of 14 and 15, we all had different dreams. But that's what you really dream of. This man went out there and lived that dream. It has strength. It will be analyzed 100 times. "