‘Didn’t Have The Same Technical Flaws’: Simon Doull Reveals Why Shubman Gill Surpassed Prithvi Shaw – News18

Last Updated:November 02, 2024, 17:41 IST

Doull had made a bold prediction at the time when he suggested that Gill would have a longer playing career in the Indian team than

The former New Zealand cricketer, Simon Doull recalled the comment he had made regarding Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill during the young duo’s playing days in U19 cricket. Doull had made a bold prediction at the time when he suggested that Gill would have a longer playing career in the Indian team than Shaw.

Now Doull’s prediction has come true so far. Gill had a fantastic knock in the first innings of the third Test against New Zealand in Mumbai with a measured 90 runs to help the side take a slender lead of 23 runs.

Shaw and Gill were part of the Indian U19 squad for the 2018 World Cup where they were captain and vice-captain respectively. The former had built up a reputation of being the next big batting star since Virat Kohli while the latter had gone under the radar. Shaw made his Test debut in 2018, scoring a century against the West Indies in Rajkot. Gill, on the other hand, took some time to make his mark on but went on to represent the side across all formats.

“When you think about a young man with the ability to change things in the middle of a series, that’s what’s quite impressive. And I first saw Shubman in the U-19 World Cup in New Zealand and there was so much chat around Prithvi Shaw at that stage,” Doull shared to the broadcasters, JioCinema.

Doull at the time noticed several technical flaws in Shaw’s batting which prompted him to comment when he noticed that Gill did not have such deficiencies.

“I made quite a bold statement that Shubman Gill’s career would way, way surpass what Prithvi Shaw does because there were some technical flaws in Prithvi Shaw and Shubman just didn’t look like he had technical flaws at that stage,” he added.

The former New Zealand cricketer also recalled an interview he had taken of a young Gill and noticed his hunger to score runs for the side, which the former appreciated.

“When I interviewed him, he was like I want big runs. I want big hundreds and that’s the hunger of the man. I think he wants them at Test level as well. Yes, the white-ball stuff means a lot to him, but he wants runs here. He wants big runs at this level, and that can only bode well,” he shared.

“When you think about Jaiswal Gill and Pant, they are the future of the batting of this side and he’s got a huge role to play in years to come. So, to make little improvements in between Test matches, absolute class,” concluded Doull.

While the spotlight might be on the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal or Rishabh Pant, Doull reckons that Shubman Gill will also have a massive role to play in the future of Indian batters as well.

(With IANS Inputs)