With each passing day in the ongoing year, India’s opening batter Shubman Gill keeps adding more and more fans and cricket experts who have convinced themselves that the next superstar of the game has well and truly arrived.
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As people having this natural tendency to continuously have a nose for players who could act as a potential replacement of the present stars, Gill is the only standout name which is taken in the same breath as that of former captain Virat Kohli.
Akin a perfect fan boy, Kohli never fails to let go of an opportunity to praise him either. Be it the night he smashed his maiden T20I ton, or more recently after smashing his third IPL century, Kohli has already termed Gill as the future of Indian Cricket.
Why Is Shubman Gill Called Prince of Indian Cricket?
After delivering consistent performances with the bat across formats for over a decade, Kohli has fittingly earned the designation of “King” unanimously by the entire global cricketing fraternity.
With the title likely to stay his until he retires, Gill’s stellar rise across formats has had him conferred the tag of the “Prince of Indian Cricket” with only a few years into his international career. A look at the media reports, some of the most credible ones have already started referring to him as “Prince”, as they come up with write-ups – one after the other praising his breathtaking knocks.
One of his biggest supporting figure and mentor, legendary all-rounder Yuvraj Singh, has already declared him as the “New Prince of Indian Cricket” after he became the highest individual scorer in the history of IPL playoffs the other night.
Another great innings by the new prince of Indian cricket !! @ShubmanGill 👏 GTvsmi #IPL2O23
— Yuvraj Singh (@YUVSTRONG12) May 26, 2023
Too Early For A ‘Prince’ Tag?
The 23-year-old is already touted as the next Virat Kohli in the Indian team. Gill is perhaps the only batter in the national side at present who is a certain pick in the Playing XI across formats; much like Kohli has been over the years. One of his biggest tests will be the imminent World Test Championship Final against Australia followed by ICC Cricket World Cup later this year.
Fans’ recency bias and a tendency to exhibit very little patience to cope up with a spell of ordinary performances from the players will always be a given.
However, be it his performance in international cricket or in the ongoing IPL season, if there is one name which deserves the “Prince of Indian Cricket” tag at present, it has to be Shubman Gill. With the passage of time, the fans themselves will decide if the tag conferred to him or the hype around his name was really worth it or not.
Virat Kohli On His ‘King’ And Shubman Gill’s ‘Prince’ Tag
Ahead of the final match of World Test Championship’s second edition, Kohli had remarked that the titles of ‘King’ and ‘Prince’ sounds and seem great in the eyes of the public and fans. Downplaying such titles and tags, the former Indian skipper stated that as a senior player he is only focused on providing insights to the youngsters.
“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 (that) you have had throughout your career,” remarked Kohli during an interaction with ICC.
Having already praised him on quite a few occasions, the former Indian captain reiterated the amazing skill sets which Gill possesses as such a young age.
