Shubman Gill named India Test captain: How father Lakhwinder and Yuvraj Singh shaped Punjab batter's cricketing journey

The suspense surrounding the next Indian Test captain is over with top-order batter Shubman Gill being named as Rohit Sharma's successor on Saturday, with Rishabh Pant as his deputy. Gill was a front-runner for succeeding the ‘Hitman’ ever since the latter announced his retirement from Test cricket on 7 May, with senior pacer Jasprit Bumrah – who was originally expected to take over as skipper – not being considered due to his recent back injury along with workload issues.

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Gill, who had played in the 2018 U-19 World Cup under Prithvi Shaw’s leadership, has been one of India’s top young stars since making his debut during the tour of New Zealand in January 2019. And even before he was named Gujarat Titans skipper after all-rounder Hardik Pandya left for Mumbai Indians in late 2023, Gill was seen as someone who would lead the national team someday.

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How Gill’s father and Yuvraj Singh shaped Gill’s career

Looking back at the 25-year-old’s life and cricketing journey so far, there are two individuals who stand out as far as shaping skills in the sport – his father Lakhwinder and legendary all-rounder Yuvraj Singh.

Lakhwinder, a farmer, had aspirations of becoming a professional cricketer himself, but could not fulfill that dream of his. He, therefore, ensured his son would not miss out on becoming a cricketer and representing the country one day, shifting base to Mohali from a village located in Punjab’s Fazilka district located near the India-Pakistan border, where cricketing facilities were limited.

Besides ensuring Shubman got better training by moving close to the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Lakhwinder and his wife Keart dedicated themselves to fulfilling his cricketing journey, with the former bowling between 500 to 700 balls a day in order to hone his batting skills.

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The Gill family ended up missing several family functions including marriage invitations in their quest to make Shubman, who has an elder sister Shahneel, a world-class cricketer.

Also helping Shubman realise his dream of representing the Men in Blue was former India cricketer Yuvraj, who is also credited with mentoring his close friend and Punjab teammate Abhishek Sharma – who had played in the same 2018 U-19 World Cup as Gill, Shaw and Arshdeep Singh.

“The credit for Shubman Gill’s performance goes to his father and Yuvraj Singh,” Yuvraj’s father Yograj, himself a former India cricketer, told Asian News International.

“If Shubman Gill has become the captain today and will stay for a long time, Yuvraj Singh’s guidance will play and has played an essential role in that.

“Someone like Yuvraj Singh, the greatest cricketing brain in the world, taking Gill under his wing is a big thing,” he added.

While Shubman has been named Test captain, he is also a strong candidate to succeed Rohit as skipper in ODIs – the only format that the ‘Hitman’ and Kohli currently are active in after retiring from Tests and T20Is.

Senior batter Suryakumar Yadav currently leads India in the shortest format and is expected to continue in the role for at least a couple of more years, beyond which there could be a scenario where Gill becomes all-formats captain.