Shubman Gill Becomes The Youngest Player For KKR to Score A Fifty

Shubman was promoted to the number four position after in-form Nitish Rana had to sit out due to an injury.

Shubman Gill’s talent with the bat finally came to the fore when he hit his maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) half-century to help Kolkata Knight Riders to an easy six-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings.

Replying to Chennai's 177-5, 18-year-old scored an unbeaten 57 off 36 balls, including six fours and two sixes, as Kolkata finished on 180-4 with 14 balls to spare. He put on an unbroken 83 off 36 deliveries for the fifth wicket with skipper Dinesh Karthik to see his team home.

Shubman, the second highest run-getter at this year’s Under-19 World Cup won by India, was promoted to the number four position after Nitish Rana had to sit out due to an injury.

With this win, KKR climb to the third spot on the points table, displacing Kings XI Punjab on the virtue of net run rate. Kolkata now have 10 points after playing nine games. On the other hand, CSK lost their pole position on the points table to Sunrisers Hyderabad after the loss. Chennai are currently placed second with 12 points from nine matches.

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At 18 years 299 days, Shubman became the fourth youngest cricketer to score a fifty at the IPL. His skipper from the under-19 team Prithvi Shaw, who plays for the Delhi Daredevils, tops the list, along with Rajasthan Royals’ Sanju Samson. Both scored their first IPL fifty at 18 years 169 days. While Prithvi scored a 62 against KKR in this edition of the IPL, Sanju had scored 63 against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 2013 edition.

Shubman became the youngest player for KKR to score a fifty in all the seasons of IPL. Before him Sri Lanka’s Angelo Matthews was the youngest at 22 years 283 days to score an unbeaten 65 against the now defunct Deccan Chargers way back in 2010.

Shubman, who had to sit out for the first two matches of the season, was batting lower down the order till Thursday. In the seven games he has played till now, Shubman has managed to score 122 runs at a strike rate of 137.07.

(With inputs from AP)

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