"He doesn't spend a penny" - When a teammate termed Shubman Gill 'kanjoos' during his U-19 days

Team India captain Shubman Gill led from the front as the visitors registered a historic Test triumph over England at Edgbaston in Birmingham. The right-handed batter scored 269 & 161 to finish with 430 runs for the match - the second-highest match aggregate ever registered in a Test. India also registered their first Test win at Edgbaston, by 336 runs - the biggest away win for them in terms of runs.

While Gill has always been rated highly, it was during the 2018 U-19 World Cup in New Zealand that he grabbed plenty of eyeballs for the first time on the international stage. The elegant batter was named the Player of the Tournament for scoring 372 runs in five innings at an average of 124 and a strike rate of 112.38 as India went on to lift the title.

One of Gill's teammates from the 2018 U-19 World Cup was left-handed batter Abhishek Sharma, who is also currently part of the Indian T20I set-up. The aggressive southpaw is known as a very good friend of Gill. Speaking to ESPNcricinfo in February 2018, he shed some light on the current Indian Test captain's personality and described him as 'kanjoos' (stingy guy).

As a story goes, Gill was supposed to treat the team after scoring a century during their U-19 tour of England. Speaking about the same, Abhishek had quipped:

"Sabse kanjoos hai (he's a stingy guy), we are still waiting for the treat. He doesn't spend a penny."

Gill is usually seen as a quiet and reserved guy on the cricket field. However, during the same interview with ESPNcricinfo, Prithvi Shaw, who captained India in the 2018 U-19 World Cup, revealed a totally different side to his personality.

"Sabse mastikhor yehi hai, obviously sabko hasata hai yeh aur Abhishek, but press conferences mein zyada nahi bolta (He's the most mischievous guy in the team, makes everyone laugh along with Abhishek, but doesn't talk much in press conferences). He's a fun chap who keeps pulling everyone's leg off the field," Gill's captain in the U-19 World Cup claimed.

Gill was the second-leading run-getter during India's victorious U-19 World Cup campaign in 2018. He struck one hundred and three fifties and also contributed a handy 31 off 30 in the final against Australia.

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Shubman Gill broke a plethora of records with his batting exploits in the Edgbaston Test

Gill broke numerous batting records with his scores of 269 & 161 in the second Test against England at Edgbaston in Birmingham. The 25-year-old is the first batter in the history of Test cricket to register a score of 250-plus and 150-plus in the same Test match.

The Indian captain now also holds the record the highest individual score by an Indian skipper in Test matches, surpassing Virat Kohli's 254* against South Africa in Pune in October 2019. With 585 runs in four innings, he has already broken the record for most runs by an Indian batter in his debut series as Test captain. Kohli scored 449 runs in four innings in Australia in 2014-15.