'We are not giving him the status of 'Prince' wrongly' - Aakash Chopra lauds Shubman Gill post his Chennai century

Shubman Gill has always been compared with the greats of the game for his exquisite talent and strokeplay. However, a lean patch from June 2023 to February 2024 in the red-ball format in particular, which saw him not get a single 50-plus score in 12 innings, had put serious doubts in the minds of Indian supporters. Gill's moniker "Prince" which had been given to him, had come under the magnified gaze of the public eye with quite a few expressing that that particular nickname didn't suit him.

Former India cricketer, Aakash Chopra, defended Gill by mentioning the number of centuries he had secured in international cricket since the start of 2020, which were in fact more than what the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli had scored in the same interval.

"Who has scored the most hundreds for Team India in this decade? It's a very interesting one. There was a tweet from CricCrazyJohns, and we said we never realized that. He wrote about the most hundreds for India in this decade in international cricket - Shubman Gill has 12 hundreds in 114 innings. It is absolutely phenomenal," stated Chopra in a video on his YouTube channel.

Chopra further asserted that the sobriquet of "Prince" linked with Gill was not at all unwarranted, as he provided the exact statistics of Rohit and Kohli as compared wiith Gill.

"Rohit Sharma, in the same timeframe, has played 148 knocks and scored 10 centuries. Virat Kohli has played 149 knocks and scored 10 centuries and both of them are our GOATs (greatest of all times). So Shubman Gill is going far ahead with 12 centuries. We are not giving him the status of 'Prince' wrongly," mentioned Chopra.

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If he puts his mind to matter, greatness beckons: Chopra

Chopra further reckoned that according to him, Gill is destined for greater things since it seems as if success is almost ingrained in his bloodstream.

"He has it in his DNA. I am saying this guy is running towards greatness because he feels, actually he is convinced. If he puts his mind to matter, greatness beckons. It is a very good story for Indian cricket," added Chopra.

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Gill would be looking to capitalize on the momentum which was gained in India's second essay of their first Test against Bangladesh where he registered an unbeaten 119-run knock, entailing 10 fours and four maximums.