India batter Shubman Gill could not score a maiden ODI century against West Indies due to inclement weather conditions in Port of Spain last year. Having said that, 12 years ago, similar weather conditions helped him in catching the eyes of former India pacer Karsan Ghavri, who was attending a pace bowlers’ camp organized by the Punjab Cricket Association.
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Having batted exceedingly well to reach 98* when the rain arrived in full flow in the third ODI, Gill was pretty disappointed to have been denied of a personal milestone for no fault of his.
“Was hoping to get a hundred, but the rain was not under my control. I only wanted one more over and was hoping for that,” Gill had said after the match.
That said, the right-handed batter bagged the Player of the Series award for the first time at the highest level in spite of not playing a List A match in the last 18 months. Gill, however, didn’t have to wait for too long before scoring his first international century against Zimbabwe in Harare. Gill, who hit 14 fours and a six, earned well-deserved appreciation from former all-rounder Yuvraj Singh.
12 Years Before Bad Weather Denied Shubman Gill A Maiden ODI Century, He Had Once Caught Selector’s Eyes While Batting In Rain
Quite interestingly, Karsan Ghavri noticed Gill at a time when he wasn’t even looking for batters. With rain interrupting the proceedings in the bowlers’ camp, Ghavri and his assistant coach were strolling in a nearby ground where kids were playing in the rain.
One batter caught Ghavri’s attention and it was none other than Gill. While Ghavri had no idea of who the boy was, he accidentally met his father, who was watching the match closely.
Apart from asking Gill’s father, Lakhwinder Singh, to send his son to the camp the next day, Ghavri recommended Mahender Pandove (long-serving PCA administrator) to include Gill in Punjab’s U-14 squad. Aged around 12 then, Gill faced 18-19-year-old pacers including Rajasthan Royals‘s Sandeep Sharma without any fear to impress Ghavri. The pacers even bowled a barrage of bouncers but none could affect an unfazed Gill.
“There was a nearby ground where a match was going on, and it was all 12 or 13-year-old boys playing. One of the boys who was batting caught my attention – the technique and the kind of shots he played. I wanted Shubman [Gill] to face the 18-year-olds like Sandeep [Sharma]. Somewhere in my mind, I knew he can.”
“For a 12-year-old, he played straight and was not afraid of pace. They even bowled bouncers, but he wasn’t terrified,” read an excerpt from Boria Majumdar and Kushan Sarkar’s ‘Mission Domination: an Unfinished Quest’ (2021).
Shubman Gill Made List A And First-Class Debut With Sandeep Sharma Also Part Of The Playing XI
Less than a decade after this incident, Gill made his List A and First-class debut against Vidarbha and Bengal respectively in 2017. Interestingly, Sharma was also a part of Punjab’s playing XI in both those matches.
Sharma, who has been plying his trade for Chandigarh since the 2021-22 season, was rated very highly in Punjab back in the day. Even in the Indian Premier League, the right-arm bowler has troubled some of the best players in the world. He is one of those rare pacers who have played two U-19 World Cups in 2010 and 2012.
Speaking particularly of the IPL, Sharma has had an upper hand on Gill. Gill has managed to score just 21 (32) against him at a pitiful strike rate of 65.62 which includes one dismissal.
