My first encounter with Shubman Gill was when he had just returned after winning the U-19 World Cupin 2018. And one of the first things he said was, “Saag toh makkhan ke bina nahi ban sakta [Saag cannot be made without makkhan]. Once in ten days, it is a cheat day and if my mother makes it, I have it that one day.”
That was the only time the 19 year old looked like one. Within moments of mentioning the saag with makkhan, Gill was back to being the next big batting sensation from India. “The fitness routine in our cricket has reached a very different level,” he said, before giving a hint of the steely resolve that had underpinned his success. “At the NCA, you may be batting once or twice a week, but the fitness training that we do every single day is just fantastic. It gets you ready for the rigours of international cricket. Now it is almost like a challenge. How many runs am I able to save on the field for my team?”
The whole world is in agreement that Gill is a rare talent. Some have even compared him with Virat Kohli, while others say he is the future captain of the national team. While all of this is very good to hear, for someone his age it can be daunting as well. To click a few thousand selfies in two months with fans, and to be told every second that you are an exceptional talent can be a real burden at times. Not so for Gill. “All of this talk is off the field,” he has said each time he has been asked. “The moment you step on to the field of play, you forget all of this.
#ShubmanGill has gone past 500 runs in a season for the first time in #IPL. His strike rate too has been impressive this season.#GTvSRH #ipl2023 pic.twitter.com/9AtJBpl5PN
— RevSportz (@RevSportz) May 15, 2023
“Inside the field, it is just your bat, you and the ball. Nothing else matters. And that’s how I look at it. Yes, I have to click a lot of selfies, but I don’t look at it as pressure. For me, it is the reward for hard work and I just want to work harder.”
In IPL 2018, he was a youngster cutting his teeth with Kolkata Knight Riders. Every innings he played had a degree of surprise attached to it. That a 19 year old could play with such maturity was the talk in cricket circles across the world. Now, he is a mature product and leading the Gujarat Titans’ title defence. A century and four fifties, with a fantastic strike-rate – this IPL has seen Gill at his very best. And to think KKR released him!
And that’s what brings us to the question – can Gill continue to mine this vein of form in the World Test Championship final? If we go back in time, it was Gill who set things up in Australia in January 2021. His 93 at the Gabba was the injection India needed. An innings that was more a statement than anything else. He was there to dominate, and India to win. “My father has worked very hard in making me a good cricketer,” he said soon after coming back from Australia. “That I am playing for India today is a huge thing for him and the entire family. Playing for India is what I had always wanted to do, and I will give it everything to make this opportunity count.”
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Has stardom changed him? “No,” came the answer. “Yes, things are different in the sense there is more recognition and more adulation from fans. But that’s where it ends. Whatever little I have been able to achieve is by sheer hard work, and I have a lot more to achieve if you know what I mean.”
Gill, clearly, is a hungry man. Saag with makkhan or not, he is hungry for more and IPL 2023 could well be part of a breakout year for this supremely talented youngster. While there is still talk of a rather unsettled Indian batting line-up in the WTC final, a top effort from Gill could change all that. With him, one thing is certain: there will never be any dearth of effort, and with talent that is god-given, the combination is lethal enough to be the cause of nightmares for bowlers across the world in the future.