India opener Shubman Gill has taken the cricketing world by storm with his stunning exploits in 2023. The lanky right-hander has slammed five international centuries this year so far, including a double ton in an ODI match against New Zealand.
Gill, 23, has travelled to England for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia on the back of stellar performances in the IPL 2023 season.
Playing for Gujarat Titans, Shubman finished the cash-rich tournament as the top run-getter with 890 runs to his name from 17 innings. He scored his runs at an impressive strike rate of 157.80 and smashed three tons and four half-centuries to help his team qualify for the final.
Ahead of the WTC final, starting June 7 at the Oval, star India batter Virat Kohli heaped praise on Shubman Gill, saying that the latter has amazing ability and temperament to excel at the highest level.
"He (Gill) speaks to me a lot about the game, is very keen to learn and has an amazing skill set at his age," Kohli told the ICC.
"He has got an amazing ability and a temperament to perform at the highest level and is confident and we do have that relationship and we do have that understanding based upon respect."
After a promising start to his Test career during the 2020-21 tour of Australia, Gill lost his way a bit and the ill-timed injuries didn’t help his cause either.
In 15 Tests so far, the young opener has scored 890 runs at an average of 34.23 with two centuries and four fifties.
Kohli believes Gill will pile up big runs in the longest format and they could come as quickly as this week against Australia in the all-important WTC final.
"I am keen to help him grow and really understand his potential and come into his own so that he can play for a long time and perform consistently and India cricket gets benefited," Kohli said.
"These tags of king and prince and all of that kind of thing are great for the public and spectators to see, but I think the job of any senior player is to help improve the youngsters and give them the insight you have had throughout your career.
"As long as a guy is keen to learn like him he is going to be fine as he wants to learn how to do this for a long time at the highest level and perform consistently.
"He is a lovely kid and he is playing amazingly well and I wish he continues the same in this Test match."
(With ICC Inputs)
