Former India batter Rohan Gavaskar praises Indian young batter Shubman Gill and called him an “all format player”.
Rohan Gavaskar Praises Gill
Shubman Gill recently bagged his maiden century in County cricket, scoring 119 for his side Glamorgan against Sussex. He made his international debut for the Indian cricket team in January 2019.
Though Gill made his international debut in 2019, he secured his first ODI century for India on 22 August 2022 while playing against Zimbabwe at Harare.
“He’s one of those who will be an all-format player. He’s showing that. He is more than capable of holding his own in white ball cricket. In red-ball cricket, his numbers are just astounding. Again, he is someone, when I say nurtured, I mean he needs to be given the right opportunities because he has shown that he has got the ability and there is no doubt about that,” said Gavaskar on ‘Sports Over The Top’ show on Sports18.
Gavaskar, who played 11 ODIs for India, went on to recall about how he first heard of Gill through Indian domestic cricket stalwart Amol Muzumdar.
“It was Amol Mazumdar who first mentioned Shubman Gill to me before he had even broken through because Amol has seen him at the NCA, he was going and coaching at the NCA and he came to me and said ‘Rohan, I’ve seen an absolute superstar! He’s someone who is definitely going to play for India. I have no doubt about it’.”
Shubman Gill so far played 11 Tests and scored 579 runs which include 4 half-centuries. He also played 9 ODIs for India and scored 499 runs which include 1 century and 3 half centuries.
“It is fantastic to see the kind of talent that we do have in India at the moment. I was having a chat with Rahul Dravid in West Indies and I told him that the funny part about playing for India right now is that it is quite easy to play for India and it is very tough to play for India. When I say easy, I don’t mean it is not deserved. All the players who have played for India are very well deserved of India cap.”
“But because there are so many matches and so many players taking rest in certain formats and tournaments, a lot of players are getting a lot more opportunities than say cricketers got in the early 2000s or late 90s because of the number of matches we are playing.”
“But having said that, because there is so much ability and so much talent, we are always looking over your shoulder because if you don’t get runs in 3, 4 or 5 games there is someone out there who is going to take your spot and you get to go right back down the ladder.”
“It is like snakes and ladders. You get to 97 you hit that snake and you are back at 3. If you don’t score runs in 4-5 matches. So, while it is easy to play for India in a sense it is also a lot tougher because of the competition that we have in our country at the moment,” concluded the former left-handed batter.
