After India’s classical win over Pakistan in the Champions Trophy 2025 clash, former all-rounder Sanjay Bangar felt that Shubman Gill would shoulder the responsibility of being a top batter in the near future. Furthermore, former opener Navjot Singh Sidhu expressed that Gill has grown as a player from Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s shadow.
Currently, Gill is enjoying a superb run of form in ODI cricket having registered scores of 87, 60, 112, 101 not out, and 46 in his last five ODIs. He is often seen anchoring the innings for India. Bangar, who has worked with Gill previously as India’s batting coach, felt the 25-year-old is the future leader of India’s batting unit.
“Clearly, he’s the guy who is going to shoulder the responsibility of the Indian team going forward in years to come,” Bangar said on the analysis show for JioHotstar.
Gill fell short of a fifth consecutive 50-plus score against arch-rivals Pakistan on Sunday as he was dismissed by an unplayable delivery by legspinner Abrar Ahmed. Prior to that, the vice-captain played some cracking shots through the covers. He also hit an elegant straight drive off Shaheen Afridi that drew comparison with the legendary Sachin Tendulkar.
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Bangar heaped praise on Gill for his shot selection and the confidence he has exuded in recent games.
“The straight drive and the on-drive are the shots wherein you cannot actually hit the ball really hard. But here, he was hitting the ball so hard that despite the mid-off and the mid-on fielder being on that 30-yard circle, the ball was going and hitting them. That’s the kind of timing he possesses,” Bangar said while talking about Gill’s shot against Afridi.
Having played 52 ODIs, Gill has already scored 2,734 at an average of 62 including eight hundreds and 15 half centuries. His ability to pace his innings according to the situation has also helped his opening partner Rohit Sharma to be aggressive in the powerplay. Additionally, Gill playing the long innings helped the top order when Rohit and Virat were struggling to score runs.
Former India opener Navjot Singh Sidhu compared Rohit and Kohli to Banyan trees and said that Gill has outgrown the shadow cast by the duo.
“Nothing grows under a banyan tree and the banyan tree of Indian cricket is basically Rohit Sharma and with him, Virat Kohli. This man has emerged from the shadows of that banyan tree and has come of age,” Sidhu said.
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