Cricket is a sport driven by legends and legacies. Newly appointed captain Shubman Gill has so far mirrored the journey of Virat Kohli in many ways. The similarities begin from representing India at the U-19 World Cup to having a strong start on captaincy debut.
The journeys of the two Indian batters took off with a century in the U-19 World Cup, giving a hint of what is to come in the future and registered their maiden Test centuries at the age of 23 and rose to the No 1 ODI batter rankings.
Their batting consistency in the 50-over format also saw them reach 1,000 ODI runs while averaging above 50.
Furthermore, each won their first Man of the Match award against the West Indies, scored their first ODI fifties in their fourth game, and lost their T20I captaincy debuts but bounced back to win the series.
Kohli and Gill share more quirky similarities. It includes a 200-plus partnership with Rohit Sharma, maiden T20I tons as openers with strike rates over 200, identical innings tallies (139) to reach their 17th international century, and scoring patterns in ICC knockout stages. Both registered their first international hundred against Bangladesh while staying unbeaten.
The mirror image careers extend to even the IPL. The two batters are the only Indians to score over 800 runs in a season and also the only ones with multiple centuries in a single edition.
Both, Kohli and Gill, won the Orange Cap and MVP award in the same year and even scored IPL hundreds at their home venues with nearly identical stats of 101 runs with 13 boundaries and just one six in 2023.
The coincidences in Tests are also uncanny. Both scored 250-plus as captain, both struck a century on Test captaincy debut. In one of the more recent parallels, Gill matched Kohli by leading India to a Test win in England after declaring in the third innings, a strategic move that is rare today. Like Kohli, he also won his first Test Man of the Match award as captain against England.
Shubman Gill may have been inspired by Kohli, but he is now on his own path of legacy that the coming generation will be inspired from.
The journeys of the two Indian batters took off with a century in the U-19 World Cup, giving a hint of what is to come in the future and registered their maiden Test centuries at the age of 23 and rose to the No 1 ODI batter rankings.
Their batting consistency in the 50-over format also saw them reach 1,000 ODI runs while averaging above 50.
Furthermore, each won their first Man of the Match award against the West Indies, scored their first ODI fifties in their fourth game, and lost their T20I captaincy debuts but bounced back to win the series.
Kohli and Gill share more quirky similarities. It includes a 200-plus partnership with Rohit Sharma, maiden T20I tons as openers with strike rates over 200, identical innings tallies (139) to reach their 17th international century, and scoring patterns in ICC knockout stages. Both registered their first international hundred against Bangladesh while staying unbeaten.
The mirror image careers extend to even the IPL. The two batters are the only Indians to score over 800 runs in a season and also the only ones with multiple centuries in a single edition.
Both, Kohli and Gill, won the Orange Cap and MVP award in the same year and even scored IPL hundreds at their home venues with nearly identical stats of 101 runs with 13 boundaries and just one six in 2023.
The coincidences in Tests are also uncanny. Both scored 250-plus as captain, both struck a century on Test captaincy debut. In one of the more recent parallels, Gill matched Kohli by leading India to a Test win in England after declaring in the third innings, a strategic move that is rare today. Like Kohli, he also won his first Test Man of the Match award as captain against England.
Shubman Gill may have been inspired by Kohli, but he is now on his own path of legacy that the coming generation will be inspired from.
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