India’s ace cricketer Virat Kohli reflected on the impact he had on the rising youngster Shubman Gill ahead of the World Test Championship 2023 final against Australia.
The ‘King’ Virat Kohli and the ‘Prince’ Shubman Gill have showcased a similar set of traits and qualities since the beginning of this year. The 23-year-old is currently enjoying tremendous form. He has scored already scored a record-breaking ODI double-century against New Zealand at the start of the year. He continued his form in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 as well, he struck three centuries and scored 890 runs. He ended the season with the Orange Cap.
Kohli revealed that he has taken the young batter under his supervision and he is providing him all the guidance he needs to improve as a batter.
“He (Gill) speaks to me a lot about the game, is very keen to learn and has an amazing skill set at his age,” Kohli said to the ICC as quoted by ICC.com.
“He has got an amazing ability and a temperament to perform at the highest level and is confident and we do have that relationship and we do have that understanding based upon respect.”
“I am keen to help him grow and really understand his potential and come into his own so that he can play for a long time and perform consistently and India cricket gets benefited,” Kohli added.
Gill is yet to really showcase his full potential in the long format at the biggest stage, even though he already has two centuries to his name from 15 Test matches.
Kohli and Gill have been termed as the King and the Prince respectively by their fans, but Kohli believes these things are for the public. His task is to help youngsters to reach new heights in their careers.
“These tags of king and prince and all of that kind of thing are great for the public and spectators to see, but I think the job of any senior player is to help improve the youngsters and give them the insight you have had throughout your career.”
“As long as a guy is keen to learn like him he is going to be fine as he wants to learn how to do this for a long time at the highest level and perform consistently.”
“He is a lovely kid and he is playing amazingly well and I wish he continues the same in this Test match.”
The WTC final will begin at 3 pm IST from June 7 till June 11 at the Oval, London, a reserve day is also in place if the weather intervenes to spoil the sport.
India’s squad for WTC final: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Ishan Kishan (wk).
Suryakumar Yadav, Mukesh Kumar and Yashasvi Jaiswal have been named as stand-by players for the high-stakes match.
Australia squad for WTC final: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (wk), Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, David WarnerStandby players: Mitch Marsh, and Matthew Renshaw.