Shubman Gill recalls the moment he knew cricket was his destiny
New Delhi: Indian Test captain and all-format star Shubman Gill recently shared the defining moment that made him realise, at just 11 years old, that cricket was going to be his career.
Speaking in an interview on Apple Music’s official YouTube channel, Gill recounted attending a camp for under-23 fast bowlers when he was barely a pre-teen. Despite being surrounded by players more than twice his age, he got a chance to bat as the team was short on batsmen.
“Honestly, I realised this is going to be my career when I was 11. There was a camp going on for under-23 Indian fast bowlers, and I was only 11. Most of the players were more than double my age. One of my closest friends, Khushpreet, was a fast bowler in that camp. He asked the head coach if I could play since we were a batsman short,” Gill recalled.
Batting at number seven or eight, Gill came in after the top order collapsed and scored an unbeaten 90-something. “It was just a practice match, nothing official, but the confidence that innings gave me made me realise, ‘Okay, this is it. I am meant to do this,’” he added.
Gill also revealed that his cricketing journey began at the age of three, when he would imitate players he watched on TV with his father. Recognising his son’s talent, his father began coaching him and even had farm workers throw balls at home to help him practise.
“I used to sit and watch what the batsman was doing and try to imitate it. My father was quite surprised at how accurately a three-year-old could copy what he saw on screen. That’s how it all started. He became my coach, and we would practise with people on our farm throwing balls at me,” Gill said.
At seven, Gill moved from Fazilka to Chandigarh, where he was enrolled in a cricket academy, marking the official beginning of his professional journey. “In the village, there weren’t many facilities or opportunities. Chandigarh was booming and had much better cricketing infrastructure. That’s where my real cricket journey started,” he said.
Since those early days, Gill has grown into one of India’s most promising all-format players. At 26, he has played 114 international matches, scoring 6,020 runs in 146 innings at an average of 46.30 and a strike rate of 80.05, including 18 centuries and 25 fifties.
With accolades such as an IPL title, the Orange Cap, the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, and a commendable 2-2 series draw against England in his first series as captain, Gill appears poised for even greater achievements, cementing his status as the newest poster boy of Indian cricket.
