'I'm giving you 10 years in age....' - Ex-India coach narrates Virat Kohli's advice to Shubman Gill

Shubman Gill’s impressive run in 2023 is the talk of the town. Gill has been on fire with the bat as he has scored four centuries in his last 12 innings. Gill, with his maiden T20I ton, has broken Kohli’s record for the highest individual score in T20Is for India. The 23-year-old batter smashed 126 runs off 63 balls in a series decider against New Zealand.

After his marvellous innings, he is being compared with the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Gill, who shares a great bond with Kohli, has always idealized him. Their bond has been on display at various times. Kohli was the man who interviewed Gill after his double-century against the Kiwis last month. Now, the former fielding coach of the Indian team, R Shridhar. has revealed an interesting story about their bond.

In his book ‘Coaching Beyond’, Shridhar narrated an incident when Kohli gave an important lesson to the young Gill. According to Shridhar, during a fielding session, Kohli’s infectious energy thought Gill a life-long lesson.

Describing the incident Sridhar wrote, "In March 2021, we were in Ahmedabad for the third of 4 Tests against England. It was our first citing of the Narendra Modi Stadium, which would be hosting only the 2nd Day-Night Test in India. We were not guaranteed a place in the final of the World Test Championship (WTC), so a lot was riding on this match. Much debate had been generated by how the colour of the seats, many of which would be unoccupied due to the restrictions necessitated by the pandemic, could offer a difficult backdrop against which to cite the pink ball."

"Virat knew he could not control anything else beyond being ready for the unexpected. So, he tucked me aside for a fielding session in the twilight under a not-so-ideal backdrop of orange chairs that dotted the stands, taking close to an unbelievable 200 catches,” Shridhar further added.

“Shubman Gill who was dealing with his poor batting technique at the time also joined him for the catching session. Looking at him Kohli said, ‘I am giving you 10 years in age, young man. The least you can do is take a few catches yourself.’”, added Shridhar.

Shubman Gill in red hot form ahead of BGT

This year, Gill has played 12 matches so far. In these matches, he has scored 769 runs with the help of four centuries. In between, he had an average of 76.90. With his performance, Gill has knocked on the doors of the Test team. In absence of Shreyas Iyer, Gill can be used in the Middle-order by the team.

Team India is set to host mighty Australia in Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) starting on March 9 in Nagpur. India is eyeing to win the four-match series to book their spot at the World Test Championship finals in Oval.