Harbhajan Singh compares an India U19 cricketer to Yuvraj Singh

India U19 stormed in to the finals of the ICC U19 World Cup 2018. They beat arch rivals Pakistan U19 by a mammoth margin of 203 runs. The chief architect of this win was batsman Shubman Gill. Ishan Porel, Prithvi Shaw also had key roles to play in the match. After the game, the media kept showering praises on the young Indian colts. Many were impressed with this win.

And veteran Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh is no exception. As per the quotes in the DNA, Harbhajan looked particularly impressed with one Indian cricketer. The colt who grabbed the attention of Harbhajan was Shubman Gill – the young batsman from Punjab. The century against Pakistan U19 is not the solitary good show by Gill in the tournament. He has aggregated 341 runs in the tournament already.

His heroics have also fetched him a deal worth INR 1.8 crore with the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL. Speaking about Shubman Gill, Harbhajan went on to compare him with Yuvraj Singh. Harbhajan also remarked that the biggest advantage that Gill has is his ability to play all the modern day cricketing shots. He was all praises for Shubman.

“Obviously, the more he plays quality bowling, he will improve. He will play in different conditions, go through phases where he would know how to score runs in difficult conditions. But make no mistake, I have seen 18-year-old Yuvraj Singh from close quarters, Shubman is as talented as Yuvraj,” quoted Harbhajan Singh.

“His biggest advantage is that he has strokes that all modern day players would like to have. He can hit Dilscoop (the lap shot made famous by TM Dilshan), he can hit the ramp shot (guiding over thirdman), inside out lofted shot. And the toughest of them all — the pull in-front of square. Pulling through deep square leg is not difficult but you need to be tall with supple wrists to keep the ball down while pulling in-front of square. Shubman has that,” Harbhajan added further.

Family support

Shubman Gill hails from a rich family in Punjab. His family owns vast farmlands and his father, Lakhwinder Singh, had made a turf wicket on the farmland for Shubman to practice in his early days. Soon, he went to Mohali and played age group cricket for the state. Coming in to the U19 World Cup, all eyes were on the Indian skipper Prithvi Shaw, who has been stacking up runs at will in Mumbai cricket.

Shubman Gill has been doing something similar in Punjab circle. However, his heroics are not much known to all since the Mumbai media often glorifies players more than what is done in the northern India. Gill has twice been awarded BCCI’s ‘Best Junior Cricketer’ (U-14 and U-16) award’ in 2013-14 and 2014-15. His father remarked that they have always extended firm support to Gill and have backed him to follow his dreams.

“We fully supported him for achieving his dream to become a cricketer. We dedicated 15 years on him to enable him become a world class cricketer. We even left our work and skipped several family functions including marriage ceremonies of our relatives so we could dedicate as much time as we could on him,” said father Lakhwinder Singh.

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