Abhishek narrated an incident from his Under-16 days with Shubman Gill. (PTI)Indian T20I opener Abhishek Sharma has revealed that Test captain Shubman Gill was one player who never got caught doing mischief when he was a junior cricketer. The 25-year-old narrated an incident from the Under-16 days when he was part of five players who had caused trouble, but the bus drivers refused to blame Gill for it.
Sharma said that Gill had a “talent” to alter expressions and had made an innocent face on that day, when the incident took place.
“There is one guy who did a lot of mischief in age-group cricket but never got caught, and that is Shubman. I will tell you an incident. We were in Dharamsala for Under-16. Our hotel was 500m away from the stadium. We used to go there by bus. The driver was stopping the music, but we wanted to play Punjabi songs. He said no, and we got into an argument with him. And the one who was shouting the most was Shubman. The incident went to the coaches and the drivers complained.”
“They asked the drivers to identify who did it. There were 4-5 of us. Five of us were standing in a line and Shubman was last. The coach pointed towards each of us and asked the drivers. They said no it was not him (Shubman). I was shocked. They called the four of us out and made us sign a letter that was to send us back home. I was sad that how come the one who started it was not called out. He has a talent to change expressions. He made an innocent face that day.” Sharma said on the “Breakfast with Champions” show.
The southpaw credited the role played by his father in pushing him towards playing the game when he was young. He admitted that his father was a strict coach, but agreed that was the right guidance he needed at that stage.
“In the beginning, I felt that as a youngster, even if you are talented, till your Under-19 days, you need someone who can push you. That was my dad. He was a different coach. He was very strict. But I also feel I needed someone like that for the way I was. I would be so scared. Even if I was out in any game by hitting a lofted shot, I would not sit next to him while he would be driving. I would sit behind. He would start anytime talking about my shot selection,” he said.
The Punjab left-hander made his T20I debut for India against Zimbabwe in July 2024. He is currently the number one T20I batter in the world, with 931 ranking points against his name.
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