Shubman Gill

Shubman Gill is one of the brightest shining star in the Indian cricketing horizon. The teenager impressed everybody with his affluent playing style during the U-19 World Cup and since then has only got better and better.

Shubman Gill is an Indian cricketer who plays for the India U19 cricket team. Born on 8 September 1999 in Firozpur, Punjab, the right handed batsman and right arm off break bowler plays as an opening batsman for the team.

Shubman rose to prominence following his performances in the ICC U19 World Cup 2018. He scored 372 runs in the tournament, bagging the Player of the Tournament trophy and featured in the ICC Team of the World Cup.

Shubman Gill: Along the Years

Records

1. Youngest cricketer to lead a side in the Deodhar Trophy
2. Leading scorer for Punjab in 2018-19 Ranji Trophy (728)
3. Leading run-scorer for India in 2018 U-19 WC (372)
4. Youngest batsman for an Indian team to score a double century in a first-class match vs West Indies A

Awards

1. 2019 IPL Emerging player of the Tournament
2. Player of the Tournament in 2018 U19 WC

Career

Domestic career

Shubman Gill made his List-A debut on 25th February 2017 against Vidarbha. His first-class debut came on 27th November 2017 as a member of the Punjab Ranji team. He scored a half-century in the first match and 129 in the second against Bengal.

In October 2018, he was named in India C's squad for the 2018–19 Deodhar Trophy.In the final round-robin match, against India A, he scored an unbeaten century to help send India C through to the final. In December 2018, during Punjab's match against Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy, Gill scored his maiden double century in first-class cricket, scoring 268 runs.

U-19 Career

His international debut for the U-19 Indian cricketer team came against England U-19 at the age of 17, where he hit two back-to-back centuries. After impressing domestically and internationally, he was selected and appointed as the vice-captain of the India U19 team in December 2017 for the 2018 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup. Shubman shone in the World Cup, hitting 372 runs from five innings and finishing second in the rankings. In the Group B match against Zimbabwe, Gill scored unbeaten 90 runs from 59 balls as India beat Zimbabwe by 10 wickets. The quarter-final saw him hitting 86 off 94 balls with India beating Bangladesh by 113 runs.

He scored a century in the semi-final against arch-rivals Pakistan, hitting a blazing unbeaten 102 from 94 balls. India won by 203 runs with Gill winning the Man of the Match award.

In the finals against Australia, he scored 31 runs from 30 balls, helping India clinch an eight-wicket victory and winning the U19 World Cup for a record fourth time.

IPL Career

Following his impressive stint in the World Cup and domestic tournaments, Shubman caught eyes of the cricketing fraternity and was bought for Rs. 1.8 crore by Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2018 Indian Premier League auction. So far, Gill has played 27 IPL matches and scored 499 runs with an average of 33.26. He has hit four half-centuries with the highest score being 76. The young man is still finding his footing in the side and the 2020 season could be the breakthrough season for him.

International Career

ODI Career

On the back of a mountain of runs posted by the Punjab born batsman in the U-19 and Domestic scene, Gill was added to India's squad for the limited-overs leg for their series against New Zealand in January 2019. On 31 January 2019, he made his One Day International (ODI) cricket debut against New Zealand in the fourth ODI match of the series at Seddon Park, Hamilton. Gill could only muster up 9 runs in his 21-ball vigil at the crease and was snaffled up by Trent Boult.

Test Career

After hitting a double century against West Indies A side in the Caribbean, Shubman Gill was instantly named in India's Test squad for their series against South Africa. However, with big names already in the team, the youngster had difficulty in breaking into the playing XI and he returned without donning the white flannels for his country. However, in February 2020, he was again named in India's Test squad, this time for their series against New Zealand Cricket.

Captaincy

Shubham Gill was assigned the vice-captaincy of the U-19 World Cup team in December 2017 and he led from the front and became the highest scorer for the Indian side. Gill and his mixture of aggression and composure helped the team in going the distance.

In August 2019, he was named as the captain of the India Blue team for the 2019–20 Duleep Trophy. In October 2019, Gill was selected as the captain of the India C team for the 2019–20 Deodhar Trophy. In November 2019, he became the youngest cricketer to lead a side in the tournament. He was 20 years and 57 days old, beating Virat Kohli's record, when he was 21 years 124 days old, during the 2009–10 tournament.

Family

Gill’s family has ancestral farmlands in his hometown in Punjab. Interested in cricket since a young age, he used to practice batting on a turf pitch constructed by his father on their farm. As Shubman got better with days, they moved to Mohali so that he could get quality cricket training.