Shubman Gill Opens Up On Rivalry With Prithvi Shaw

There is absolutely no denying that two of India’s brightest young prospects are Shubman Gill and Prithvi Shaw. Gill and Shaw have been turning heads with their scintillating performances and have been earmarked for big success in the coming years.

The two have been rising up the ladder of success together. After rising through the ranks of age-level cricket, they made it to the India Under-19 team and has not looked back since then. They have become household names with their exploits in the victorious Under-19 World Cup this year and the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Shaw shot to limelight when he set a new record of 546 runs from 330 balls playing for Rizvi Springfield in a Harris Shield match. It was the highest score in Indian schools cricket before being surpassed by Pranav Dhanawade in 2016. The marathon knock, which lasted six hours and seven minutes, was studded with 85 fours and five sixes.

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Shaw made his first-class debut for Mumbai in the semi-finals of the 2016–17 Ranji Trophy on 1 January 2017. He had gone on score a century in the second innings to bag the Man of the Match award.

The right-handed batsman also scored a century in his debut match of the Duleep Trophy. He equaled the record held by Sachin Tendulkar, who had scored for the first time a century each in his debut matches of Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy respectively.

In December 2017, he was named the captain of the team for the 2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. He eventually led the team to the title. He scored 261 runs in the tournament.

The impressive performances helped him get a whopping deal of INR 1.2 crore from Delhi Daredevils (DD). He went on to impress in the IPL too, finishing the season with 245 runs including two fifties.

Shubman Gill Opens Up On Rivalry With Prithvi Shaw
Shaw led India to U-19 World Cup(Credits: Getty)

Gill’s journey has also been phenomenal. He shot to limelight in 2014. Back then he slammed 351 in Punjab’s Inter-District Under-16 tournament. On his Under-16 state debut for Punjab, he made an unbeaten double-century in the Vijay Merchant Trophy.

In the Under-19 World Cup, he slammed 372 runs at an average of 124 and bagged the Man of the Tournament award.

He too bagged a lucrative IPL deal as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) bought him for INR 1.8 crore. In the IPL, he scored 203 runs including a match-winning fifty against eventual winners Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

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Shubman Gill Opens Up On Rivalry With Prithvi Shaw
Gill was the Man of the Tournament in the U-19 World Cup(Credits: Getty)

The two then made it to India A team for the tour of England and impressed again. Not surprisingly, there are speculations that the cut-throat competition in the senior team and the urge to get ahead have developed a rivalry between the two teenagers.

Well, Gill quashed the speculations by saying that there is absolutely no rivalry with Shaw.

“Not at all. We are like brothers. He does his job and I do mine. And when we do well, we congratulate each other too,” Gill told Hindustan Times when asked if there was rivalry with Shaw.

Gill also said he is now eyeing to deliver in domestic cricket to continue his upward rise.

“Post the U-19 World Cup, I have had a chance to play alongside cricketers like Dinesh Karthik and then seeing Chris Gayle and others from close quarters have been a learning curve. Now I need to deliver in the domestic tournaments to get to next level,” said Gill.

 

 

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