It was in 2018 when ex-cricketer and currently a TV sports analyst Simon Doull caused a stir by claiming that Shubman Gill would play for India for a longer time than Prithvi Shaw. Fast forward to the present, and so far so good is Doull’s other predictions about Gill come true as he was the highest scorer for India in any innings with a calm knock of 90 runs in the first innings total of 263 for India taking a lead of 28 runs in the third Test match against New Zealand being played at Wankhede Stadium and Mumbai. Shaw and Gill were the captain and Vice-captain respectively of the India team that lifted the U19 World Cup in New Zealand in 2018. By the end of that calendar year, Shaw scored a century on his Test debut against the West Indies in Rajkot, while it took Gill some time to break into Test cricket, but he has now been well settled across all formats for India.
Doull explained the above statement by saying, “I made quite a bold statement that on the long run of Shubman Gill’s career, he would be way ahead of Prithvi Shaw in terms of his performance because he was quite technically flawed and Shubman just didn’t seem to have any technical flaws at that point.”
Though he was left ten runs short of a century, Gill has crossed the mark of 800 runs in Tests in the year 2024. In contrast, Shaw has been omitted from the squad of Mumbai which is participating in the ongoing Ranji Trophy owing to fitness and form concerns.
‘And so I’ve followed his career all the way since that time. And the impressive thing about him for me is that I see that he is able to change things, he is able to take in information and process that and has the capacity to execute those subtle changes. Because I think he just wants to run as much as possible,” mentioned the speaker.
“I had an interview with him and he was like I wanted big scores. I want big hundreds, and that is the man’s hunger. I think he wants them to be at the Test level too. Of course, the white-ball stuff is important to him, but he wants runs here. He wants big runs at this level, and that can only mean good things.”
“Whenever you consider the likes of Jaiswal Gill and Pant, they are the future of the batting of this side and he’s got a largely scope to fill in the years to come. So to do little improvements in between Test matches, total class,” ended Doull.
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