Shubman Gill

A right-hand top-order batter from Punjab, Shubman Gill is known for his penchant for big runs, made stylishly.

He was drafted into India's Under-19 side as the vice-captain for the 2018 World Cup, shortly after he made his first-class debut, for Punjab in the Ranji Trophy in late 2017 with a half-century in his first game and an attacking 129 in the next match.

He was the Player of the Tournament at the U-19 World Cup, scoring a hundred in the semi-final against Pakistan. While he was still in New Zealand for the World Cup on the day of the 2018 IPL auction, Gill was picked by Kolkata Knight Riders for INR 1.8 crore (US$ 281,000 approx).

He made his ODI debut in 2019, but it was in his first Test series, in Australia in 2020-21, that he showed his true mettle: making 45 and 35 on debut at the MCG, a half-century in Sydney, and a fluent 91 in India's thrilling series-clinching win at the Gabba.

His first Test hundred came a year later, in Chattogram. A month later, at the age of 23, he became the youngest to make an ODI double-century, smashing 208 off 149 balls against New Zealand. He scored over 350 runs in India's run to the 2023 World Cup final, and was part of the 2025 Champions Trophy-winning squad in 2025.

His innings against England in the home Test series in 2024 - centuries in Visakhapatnam and Dharamsala, 91 in Rajkot, and a crucial second-innings 52 in tricky conditions in Ranchi - were crucial in sealing their 4-1 win.

He became the captain of Gujarat Titans in 2024 after Hardik Pandya's exit and led them to the playoffs the next season. And After Rohit Sharma retired from Test cricket, Gill was named India's captain for the 2025 tour of England.

A constant in Rahul Dravid's plans for the Under-19 World Cup, Gill routinely played at an age-group level above his. In 2014, he smacked 351 in Punjab's Inter-District Under-16 tournament, and shared a record opening stand of 587 with Nirmal Singh. On his Under-16 state debut for Punjab, he made an unbeaten double-century in the Vijay Merchant Trophy. Later that year, he went on to share the stage with his idol Virat Kohli while receiving a BCCI award for the best junior cricketer, which he won for two successive years: 2013-14 and 2014-15.

- In IPL 2025, Shubman Gill led Gujarat Titans (GT) to a fourth-place finish and scored 650 runs - his second-best season. It was also his sixth straight season with 400-plus runs. Gill also formed a formidable opening partnership in 2025 with Sai Sudharsan, as they became only the third pair to score more than 900 partnership runs in a season.

- Gill was appointed the GT captain in 2024, his first captaincy stint in the IPL, after emerging as one of the most promising batting talents in the country. GT finished eighth under him.

- Gill was the orange cap winner in IPL 2023 after scoring the second-highest aggregate in a season (890 runs at a strike rate of 157.80 ) in IPL history, for GT.

- He was a key player in GT's title-winning campaign in IPL 2022, when he scored 483 runs.

- Before joining GT, Gill was part of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) from 2018 to 2021. He top-scored for them in 2020 (440 runs) and once again in their run to the IPL final in 2021 (478 runs), but he was not retained by KKR after the 2021 season.