Shubman Gill breaks Virat Kohli’s record: The teenage cricketer broke the Indian captain’s record in his first match itself.

During the fourth ODI of the ongoing India’s tour of New Zealand at Hamilton, India handed debut to Punjab batsman Shubman Gill. The batsman has been doing the rounds in India’s domestic circuit since winning the ‘Man of the Series’ award in ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup 2018.

Originally not in the squad, Gill was called up as a replacement for the then suspended India opening batsman Lokesh Rahul. Gill’s debut was majorly possible due to India’s gaining an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series.

Had the fate of the series not been decided, it would have been difficult for Gill to make his ODI debut, at least in the fourth ODI. While he eventually made his ODI debut, he ended up breaking India captain Virat Kohli’s 11-year old record despite not scoring much.

Gill came in to bat at No. 3 in the sixth after opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan was pinned in front of the stumps by New Zealand fast bowler Trent Boult. In what was a dismal batting collapse, Gill saw three Indian batsmen get out from the non-striker’s end including stand-in captain Rohit Sharma.

Gill was the next Indian wicket to fall as he nearly got out in the same way as Sharma. Out caught and bowled to Boult, Gill ended up scoring 9 (21) which included an archetype four through the leg side.

Shubman Gill breaks Virat Kohli’s record

Currently aged 19 years and 145 days, Gill became the youngest Indian batsman to bat in the top three in ODIs. The record was earlier with Kohli, who was 19 years and 287 days old when he walked in to bat at No. 3 against Sri Lanka in 2008.

It is worth mentioning that Kohli had broken the 32-year old record of Dilip Vengsarkar who was 19 years and 321 days when he made his debut against New Zealand in 1976. The youngest batsman to bat in Top Three for India is veteran wicket-keeper batsman Parthiv Patel who was 18 years and 38 days old when he batted at No. 3 against Bangladesh in TVS Cup 2003.