The Shubman Gill story- when dreams do come true

Shubman Gill is no doubt the next pin-up boy of Indian cricket (BCCI Photo)

Shubman Gill is on a high. Appointed red ball captain of India, it is a dream come true for any cricketer. Can he add to his already glorious track record when he takes on the Mumbai Indians in New Chandigarh.

Shubman Gill is no doubt the next pin-up boy of Indian cricket. After Sunil Gavaskar left the scene, it was Sachin Tendulkar who filled that void in more ways than one. By the time Tendulkar made an entire nation emotional, Virat Kohli was ready to take the baton from him and now as shades of grey in Kohli’s beard grows exponentially, it is Shubman who is the next in line. Anyone who watched him bat in the IPL will agree he is ready to take on the world and dominate.

Gill’s story is that of perseverance, hard work, unbelievable talent and also sacrifices of a family that moved out of its comfort zone to build a career for their beloved child. His father Lakhwinder Singh is a farmer, so is his grandfather as they hail from Fazilka, a small village on the Indo-Pak border. “We fully supported him for achieving his dream to become a cricketer. We dedicated 15 years in ensuring he fulfils his ambition. We even left our work and skipped several family functions, including marriage ceremonies of our relatives so we could dedicate as much time as we could,” Lakhwinder had once said.

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For the cute little kid, the apple of his grandfather’s eyes, the first toy was a bat that the old man had carved out of a tree trunk. “Shubman never liked any other toy. He always loved playing with the bat and ball. He used to play with a cricket bat and ball even while going to bed,” Lakhwinder had said.

Leaving the assured and comfortable village life and farm lands in Fazilka and settling in a new city like Mohali wasn’t easy for the young Gill couple with two little ones in tow. But then if the son also starts singing from the same hymn sheet, it becomes easier. Both Lakhwinder and Shubman had the same dream, the father dreamt, and the son realised it.

The start of this journey was fascinating and a small but significant role was played by former India left arm seamer Karsan Ghavri. “I think it was 2009–10 and there was an all-India pace bowler’s camp organised by the Punjab Cricket Association. 155 boys from in and around Punjab, some from Bihar, Bengal had all come for that trial cum camp. They were all 18 to 19 years old. I remember Sandy (Sunrisers Hyderabad pacer Sandeep Sharma) was part of that camp,” Ghavri had said to us. “Now when the nets were supposed to start, I saw there weren’t any batsmen arranged by the PCA. I spoke to Mr Pandove (long time Punjab CA strongman Mahender Pandove) and Sushil Kapoor (longest serving Punjab Ranji team manager) and asked them to arrange for some good batters. And they did.”

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The practice was going on fine at the PCA practice facilities in Mohali when on one of the days it started drizzling steadily, so they had to stop the nets. It would have taken some time to make the indoor facility operational. “That day me and one of my assistant coaches felt that till the nets started, let’s take a walk around and there was a nearby ground where we just causally went while taking a stroll. Now there was a match going on there and it was all 12 or 13-year-old boys playing. They didn’t stop, even in that steady drizzle on a wet pitch. But what caught my attention was one of the boys who was batting. The technique and the kind of shots he played caught my attention. Me and my assistant coach just couldn’t move. That boy captivated me with his strokes,” Ghavri said.

As Ghavri was leaving the ground, he saw one man standing under the shade of a tree, intensely watching the match, and thought that maybe he could help. “I went up to him and asked what he was doing, standing alone at one side. He answered, ‘My son is playing.’”

Ghavri immediately asked who his son was, and he pointed to the boy that Ghavri so much wanted to know about. “That’s my son Shubman, and he is 12 years old,” Lakhwinder said. “I just told him that his son is a fantastic player and he should just send him to the PCA nets tomorrow. In my mind, I wanted Shubman to face the 18-year-olds like Sandeep. Somewhere in my mind I knew he can,” Ghavri had recalled.

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Ghavri was right and Shubman hasn’t looked back. He is now India’s red ball skipper and on Friday he would want to add another chapter to his glorious IPL career as he takes on the Mumbai Indians in Chandigarh.

Sunil Gavaskar was a product of his times. An India still in its youth, trying to rebuild after a fierce struggle for independence. He wanted to save his team and then look at options. Tendulkar happened to India at the time of economic liberalisation, and the flamboyance was a function of his age. Virat Kohli’s generation didn’t carry the baggage of the past and showed what fearlessness is all about, and Gill belongs to a generation which is all about decisiveness in decision making.

While he will need a lot of it as skipper in England, on Friday it will be about being smart as well. How he can outthink Hardik Pandya and take GT to yet another IPL final. And in doing so make Lakhwinder even more proud.