Shubman Gill

Some Lesser Known Facts About Shubman Gill

• Shubman started playing cricket at a very young age. He played with other boys and batted with a hand-made bat.

  

• He grew up watching Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman on television which inspired him to be a cricketer.

• His father also wanted to become a cricketer but never got the opportunity.

• After seeing Shubman’s interest towards cricket, his family moved from Jaimal Singh Wala aka Chak Khere Wala Village in Jalalabad Tehsil of Fazilka district to Mohali in 2007 where he rented a house near the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium.

• At the age of 11, he was selected in the Under-16 Punjab cricket team to play at the district-level. In his debut series, he scored maximum runs of 330 in five games and made a record.

  

• In 2014, he scored more than 200 runs in his first Vijay Merchant Trophy Under-16 Punjab state-level match.

• He also scored 351 runs in the Inter-District Under-16 Punjab cricket tournament ML Markan Trophy and at the district level, he shared a world record opening partnership of 587 runs along with Nirmal Singh.

• He was honoured with the M.A. Chidambaram Trophy from the BCCI for the best under-16 cricketer for his successful season 2013-2014.

  

• In 2017, he made his List A debut against the Vidarbha cricket team in Delhi.

• In the same year, he got selected in India’s Under-19 cricket team and played his first match against England in the Youth ODI series. In this series, he scored 351 runs and became the Man of the Series.

  

• He was named as the vice-captain of the 2018 U-19 Cricket World Cup.

• In 2018, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) bought him for Rs. 1.8 crore ($230,000) at the 2018 Indian Premier League (IPL) auction.

• He is a bit superstitious and always keeps a red handkerchief while batting.

  

• In the 2022 IPL auction, Gujarat Titans (GT) acquired him for Rs 8 crore.

  

• He played in the World Test Championship (WTC) final in England, he scored 13 and 18 runs in the first and second innings respectively. His catch taken by Cameron Green in the second innings caused a controversy among his fans who argued that the ball had touched the ground. ^[5]Hindustan Times

  

• In May 2023, it was revealed that the cricketer had dubbed for the Hindi and Punjabi versions of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse; he voiced the character of Pavitr Prabhakar, also known as the Indian Spider-Man in the film.

• In June 2023, on the sidelines of the promotion of ‘Spiderman,’ Gill went on a ‘romantic’ date with social media influencer Niharika NM.

• While playing for Gujarat Titans in the Tata IPL 2023, Shubman Gill won the Orange Cap after tallying 890 runs in 17 matches in the season. He became only the third batter to score more than 800 runs in a single season of the IPL. Gill also registered the second-highest run tally in a single edition of the tournament; Virat Kohli scored 973 runs in 2016. ^[6]Sportstar He was also awarded the title of ‘Gamechanger’ and ‘Most Valuable Player’ of the tournament in the 2023 IPL season. ^[7]Money Control

  

• In October 2023, Shubman Gill was named the ICC Men’s Player of the Month for September 2023, making him the first Indian player to receive the ICC award more than once. ^[8]India Today

• In the 2023 ODI World Cup held in India, he scored 354 runs in 9 matches at an average of 44.25 and a strike rate of 106.95 with the highest score of 92 runs.

  

• In November 2023, Shubman Gill took the top spot in the ICC Men’s Batting Rankings for ODIs, replacing Pakistan’s Babar Azam. ^[9]The Economic Times

• He is a sneakerhead and likes to collect sneakers.

  

• He talked about his jersey number 77 in an interview and said that when he played for the India Under-19 team, he wanted a number 7 jersey; however, that number was not available when he made his international debut, hence he took 77 number with two 7s.

  

• In an interview, he credited his father to be the first coach and mentor. He also said that after every match, the first person he calls is his father.

  

• He has been featured on the cover of many magazines such as GQ India.

  

• He is the brand ambassador of many reputed brands such as G-Shock and Gillette India.

  

• In August 2024, Shubman Gill was selected to play in the Duleep Trophy by the BCCI before the test series with Bangladesh. He was chosen alongside Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma, and Kuldeep Yadav.

• In May 2025, the BCCI appointed him as the Captain of the Indian Test team.