The 2011 World Cup witnessed the passing of the baton from Sachin Tendulkar to Virat Kohli. Twelve years later, the stage is all set for Kohli to, rather poetically, pass it on to Shubman Gill, India’s crown prince, writes Aadya Sharma. This article first appeared in issue 71 of Wisden Cricket Monthly, a World Cup special.
To bet on the World Cup with our Match Centre Partners bet365 head here.
As ever, India enter a World Cup unanimously branded ‘favourites’. Moreover it’s a home tournament, and the last three winners have all been hosts, dating back to India in 2011 and that magical outpouring in Mumbai, a generational and expectation-setting achievement.
Each year since, however, those expectations have taken a hit, knackered by the blow of every ICC event and every missed chance. The hope rages on inside, but you whisper your prayers. The heartbreak of 2019 and the image of a defeated MS Dhoni, trudging back in silence as his final act in the India kit, still rankles for many.
The only constant from 2011 and 2019 going into 2023 is Virat Kohli, a modern great, now an ex-captain just out of an exasperating long rough patch. Twelve years ago, the baton passed from an ageing Sachin Tendulkar to a young Kohli, vastly different in styles but proud owners of two all-time great ODI careers.
Former cricketer Surendra Bhave, until recently Punjab state team coach, was in awe of Gill’s work ethic when he joined them for the 2022 Ranji Trophy. “He would just bat and bat in nets,” Bhave says. “He’s capable of having a four-hour session.”
His Test numbers have oscillated, but Gill is already a white-ball monster. Since 2021, he averages 69.76 in ODIs, ushering in 2023 with two tons and a double hundred across nine days. A blockbuster IPL season followed: he smashed more runs than anyone, pillaging three centuries.
“As all good players do, he gets a lot of time to play his shots,” observes Bhave. “He’s got an amazing pull shot on him, a short-arm jab sort of a thing. He plays the authentic pull as well, but he also has that shot that he plays off the front foot. That is his trademark shot. Beautiful bat swings. And, another common denominator in all good players: he makes it look so simple.”
Kohli and Rohit remain this side’s biggest crowd-pullers, but they won’t be around forever, leaving Gill, and a handful of chosen others – Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant – with a future to design. It starts with this World Cup, an event that carries immense hope for fans, albeit with a tinge of hesitation. Indian fans don’t sleep well, but they still dream.
Kohli won the title at 23. If Gill does it too, the baton-passing will be rather poetic. Indian fans will find a new reason to dream on.
This article first appeared in issue 71 of Wisden Cricket Monthly, a World Cup special.
