For the first 15-20 seconds, I was in a state of shock: Shubman Gill on his maiden call-up

After India’s Under-19 World Cup triumph last year, two names stood out. One was the captain, Prithvi Shaw and the other was the vice-captain, Shubman Gill. Given their ability and talent, there was a lot of hype around the two. While Prithvi Shaw’s consistent run in domestic cricket and for India ‘A’ earned him a Test call-up, Shubman Gill waited for his chance.

Shaw had a memorable debut against the Windies at home as he scored 237 runs in his debut series. But injury ruled him out of the Australian tour. On the other hand, Gill continued to play domestic cricket and score consistently. He impressed with his ability to pile up big scores. In this season, the 19-year-old Punjab batsman has racked up 728 runs in 9 Ranji innings at a stunning average of 104.00. He was also impressive in the Deodhar Trophy, scoring 168 runs in three innings.

The exclusion of KL Rahul means that an opportunity has come knocking for the Punjab teenager. In just about two years of making his domestic debut for Punjab, Gill has got a maiden national call-up. He averages close to 50 in List ‘A’ cricket and close to 80 in first-class cricket. Hence, he’s been fast-tracked into the ODI team and will join the team in New Zealand for the ODI and T20I series.

The 19-year-old batsman earned his maiden national call-up late on Saturday. He admitted that it came as a big surprise and he couldn’t believe his luck. “It was a surprise call-up for me. I was just going to sleep and suddenly at around 1 AM, I got messages from reporters saying that I’ve been selected and then I opened one of the WhatsApp messages and then I saw me and Vijay Shankar are replacing KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya. For the first 15-20 seconds, I was in a state of shock,” Gill was quoted saying by India TV News.

Shubman Gill ready to bat anywhere

A week back, Shubman Gill was nowhere around the radar of the Indian selectors. However, the suspension of KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya has opened up the doors on Gill. Despite batting at the top of the order in domestic cricket, the Punjab batsman is ready to bat anywhere in the line-up if he is given an opportunity, even if it is at No. four or No. five.

With the World Cup only a few months away, he might get an opportunity in India’s fragile middle-order. Hence, a good start might just help him push for a spot in the team for the mega-event which starts in late May.

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