Shubman Gill

"After Rohit Sharma, there hasn’t been an Indian young batting talent in recent years whose appearance at international stage was awaited so eagerly as Gill’s. Virat Kohli was seen as a promising teenager but his raw talent wasn’t necessarily raved. Gill was different. The signature pull shot, without any follow-through, in the u-19 world cup would go viral, and gifs of a peachy on-the-up drive from a age-group tournament in New Zealand would pop up. And he kept piling up the runs in domestic cricket. R Ashwin rates him as one of the more difficult batsmen he has bowled to. Rohit struggled at the start of his international career, and while Gill hasn’t lived up to his billing of a run-machine yet, there have been enough sparkles for everyone from grizzled former cricketers to fans to salivate at what lies ahead. His performances in this world cup can define the first half of his career, and India need him to fire at the top of the order to alleviate some of the middle-order concerns. Brought up on cement tracks, his backfoot game flourished, and it was clear that he would be a success on tracks with bounce, like in Australia but would have to show his mettle in different conditions.

One-day memory: 208 from 149 balls against New Zealand at Hyderabad 2023

There was some pressure on him as Ishan Kishan, who had replaced him when he was resting, had hit a double hundred, and Gill responded with a double ton to silence the murmurs. It wasn’t a pancake of a pitch as India’s second highest score was Rohit Sharma’s 34. His hundred came up in the 30th over, and he was on 169 when he unleashed a furious assault in the final three overs, crashing 6 sixes before he fell in the final over.

One more thing: In the age-group games before he made his international career, he would have a certain pizza before every match with his friend, the fellow cricketer Abhishek Sharma."