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It’s celebration time at Gill house after Shubman’s scintillating double ton
Shubman hit a ton (116) in the last ODI against Sri Lanka at Thiruvananthapuram and a double hundred (208) against New Zealand in Hyderabad on Wednesday
Lakhwinder Gill and his wife Keart Gill had gone to witness the two ODIs India played against the visiting Sri Lankan team in Kolkata and Guwahati to see their son Shubman Gill in action. They also wanted to see the games between India and New Zealand too, but had to return home due to other obligations.
As luck would have it, they missed Shubman hitting a ton (116) in the last ODI against Lanka at Thiruvananthapuram and a double hundred (208) against New Zealand in Hyderabad on Wednesday. When the world was anticipating Virat Kohli hitting his 75th international century, Shubman rocked with back-to-back centuries. “Even though we missed the last two games to supervise the construction of our house in Mohali, we are still thrilled. Fans from our neighbourhood and even Kashmir visited us to extend their wishes,” said 23-year-old Shubman’s father, who has coached him since he was a kid.
Mohali’s Shubman is now the youngest player to score an ODI double-century. He made 208 off 149 deliveries against New Zealand and also became the fifth Indian after Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan to score double hundreds for India in ODIs. He also became the fastest Indian to record 1,000 ODI runs during the game against Sri Lanka. He crossed the mark when he reached 106 in his 19th innings.
The Gills moved to Mohali from their Chak Jaimal Singh Wala village near Jalalabad in Fazilka district, when Shubman was eight, so that he could pursue the sport, as there were no coaching facilities at or near the village.
“It was the best decision we made for our son. He has dominated the U-14, U-16 and U-19 age-groups and gradually included in the Indian team. He never misses practice and is learning everyday. I am happy to see him shaping into a mature cricketer who builds long innings,” said an elated father, who was glued to the television on Wednesday.
