Simon Doull's no-nonsense take on Shubman Gill's racing ahead of Prithvi Shaw: ‘I made quite a bold statement…’
3 days ago | 5 Views
Shubman Gill has emerged as the next big thing in Indian cricket as he continues to prove his credentials on the big stage, unlike his captain from the Under-19 team, Prithvi Shaw, who made his India debut before him. Shaw led the India Under-19 team to the World Cup title in 2018 and made his Test debut in the same year, however, he failed to live up to the expectations. Persistent injuries, inconsistent performances and technical flaws in his batting pulled Shaw down. Things just went downhill for him, and recently, he was even dropped from the Mumbai Ranji team.
On the other hand, Shubman has been recently named vice-captain of the white-ball formats and has been a mainstay in the Tests.
Simon Doull, who was part of the 2018 U19 WC commentary team, discussed Shaw and Gill's early careers when the former received the majority of attention.
“When you think about a young man with the ability to change things in the middle of a series, that’s what’s quite impressive. And I first saw Shubman in the U-19 World Cup in New Zealand and there was so much chat around Prithvi Shaw at that stage," Doull shared to the broadcasters, JioCinema.
Doull recalled that he made a statement way back during the U-19 WC that Gill has more potential than Shaw who feels had some technical flaws in his batting.
“I made quite a bold statement that Shubman Gill’s career would way, way surpass what Prithvi Shaw does because there were some technical flaws in Prithvi Shaw and Shubman just didn’t look like he had technical flaws at that stage," he added.
He wanted big runs
The former New Zealand cricketer was impressed with Gill's solid 90-run knock and recalled his interview with the young Indian start from his earlier days.
“When I interviewed him, he was like I want big runs. I want big hundreds and that’s the hunger of the man. I think he wants them at Test level as well. Yes, the white-ball stuff means a lot to him, but he wants runs here. He wants big runs at this level, and that can only bode well," he shared.
He further named Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant are the future of India's batting.
“When you think about Jaiswal, Gill and Pant, they are the future of the batting of this side and he’s got a huge role to play in years to come. So, to make little improvements in between Test matches, absolute class," concluded Doull.
