Aakash Chopra Highlights Shubman Gill's Biggest Quality, Says 'Like Virat Kohli He Understands…'

Shubman Gill is one of the most talented young batters of present times. The 25-year-old is a regular member of the Indian team in all three formats of the game, and he has also served as the captain of Men in Blue in as many as five T20Is. The right-handed top-order batter was unlucky to miss out on a place in the Indian team for the T20 World Cup 2024, which the Rohit Sharma-led side won by getting the better of South Africa in Barbados on June 29, but he will be seen in action for India in the upcoming two-match Test series against Bangladesh, which starts on Thursday (September 19) in Chennai.

The Punjab-based cricketer, who captains the Gujarat Titans in the IPL, was picked as one of the three top young talents by former Indian opening batter Aakash Chopra in a recent interview on a YouTube channel. The former Indian cricketer, who has now donned the hat of a commentator, also highlighted Gill’s biggest quality as a cricketer and said, like Virat Kohli, he also understands the pulse of the game very well.

“The biggest quality of Shubman is that he understands the pulse of the game. Some players are very quick to understand. Some understand eventually. Some never understand. So, the greats you see, they understand very quickly. So, Virat Kohli understood the pulse of the game very quickly. Mahendra Singh Dhoni understood the pulse of batting in ODIs very quickly,” said Aakash.

“Shubman Gill understands the pulse of the game. He understands 100% where the game is going. Where can I go? Where can I take it? How can it run according to me? He is absolutely brilliant. He is top-class about himself,” he added.

While Gill’s absence from India’s T20 World Cup squad was a major shock for the majority of the fans and experts of the game, Chopra feels it was a right call made by the selectors and said even Rohit didn’t make it to the 2011 team.

“Shubman Gill has that future superstar thing. He is doing good as well. You shouldn’t have taken him in T20s (World Cup). The team that was picked was fine. It’s okay. Sometimes, we tend to get too obsessed with that. Now he is a player. So, he should play in all three formats. There is no legitimate rule that he should play. He may make it.”

“IPL, he does it very well. He made 900 runs in a year. Had a great season with Gujarat. So, I mean, he is very young. He will figure it out. But if he doesn’t go, it’s okay. Rohit Sharma didn’t play in the 2011 World Cup. It’s fine. But now India’s most successful captain,” he added.