Indian batter Shubman Gill is playing under all-rounder Hardik Pandya in Indian Premier League at Gujarat Titans. Both of them won the IPL title as well last year. They are teammates now in both IPL and the Indian national team. However, there was an incident when Pandya had sledged Gill in his very first domestic season.
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Gill was the Player of the Tournament in the ICC U-19 World Cup 2018 in New Zealand and was tipped to be the next big thing in Indian cricket. Gill made his domestic debut for Punjab in 2017. In a Vijay Hazare Trophy game between Punjab and Baroda, Gill faced the wrath of Pandya.
Gill had revealed that Pandya was showing him cold shoulder for no reason and he could not understand why his senior was doing that. Pandya is an aggressive personality on the field and we have seen that in international cricket as well. When this incident happened, Pandya had already made his debut for India.
When Hardik Pandya Sledged Shubman Gill In His Very First Domestic Season
In a video with Kolkata Knight Riders, Gill had disclosed how Pandya was continuously reminding him that this is not U-19 cricket. He said that Pandya was trying to get on his nerves as it was his first season.
“It was my first year of the Ranji Trophy season and we were playing a one-day against Baroda. And I remember Hardik bowling to me. He kept on sledging me and I don’t know for what reason,” Gill said in a video posted by KKR.
“I tried to hit him on the up and the ball went straight to the fielder. Then he kept saying, ‘Ae chal na maar na! Chal na, U-19 nahin hai ye. Chal na maar na’ [Come on hit me, this is not Under-19 cricket, hit me!].”
Chasing the target of 250 runs, Gill could just score 6 (11) in that match and Baroda won the game by 75 runs in the end. Pandya bowled an excellent spell of 8.4-1-26-3 for the winning team.
Hardik Pandya vs Shubman Gill Head to Head in IPL history
Although in a small sample size, Pandya has dominated Gill in IPL so far with the ball. He has bowled just five balls against Gill and has managed to dismiss him thrice in the process. Gill has scored a mere run against his current captain.
Gill was signed by Gujarat last year ahead of the tournament at a price of INR 8 crore, whereas Pandya is at an INR 15 crore contract.
