ICC U-19 World Cup 2018: Tracing the journey of Shubman Gill

Bengaluru, January 30: Shubman Gill glided his way to a hundred in 94 balls in the ICC Under 19 World Cup semifinals against Pakistan at Christchurch, New Zealand, on Tuesday (January 30).

The knock had just seven boundaries and no six but still he maintained a strike rate of over 108. Make no mistake, Gill has the ammunition to take on the bowlers in an explosive way. But on this day he shelved those muscle shots and took India to a competitive total from 166 for five.

Scorecard

Lakhwinder Singh, his father and early coach, was not amused. "He has always been a sensible and mature kid. He understood situations very well for someone who is of his age. When he was a kid his favourite toy was a cricket bat and loved spending time on a cricket field," said Lakhwinder, a native of Punjab.

"It's nice to get runs in the semifinals of a big tournament like the ICC U19 World Cup. But the job is not finished. He has one more match and hopefully, he will deliver there too," he said.

Lakhwinder and family moved to Mohali, leaving behind his small business in Fazilka, a village in Punjab, to give more exposure to cricket.

We will see more of Gill in the Indian Premier League season too when he turns out for Knight Riders as the Kolkata franchise bought him for Rs 1.8 crore in the IPL auction held in Bengaluru last weekend.

What have they seen in the 18-year-old Gill to merit a such a high price tag? Of course, he has scored well in the ICC U19 World Cup but the Knight Riders feel that Gill is a wholesome package.

"He is young and richly talented. We feel that he can be a part of our set up for a long while, hence the decision to invest in him. If we get him at this stage, it will be easy for him to integrate himself to our environment. We are also impressed by the fact that how calmly he went through each situations in the U19 World Cup," said a KKR official.