Picture Credit: Twitter
Gujarat Titans’ clash against SunRisers Hyderabad on Monday, May 15 witnessed Shubman Gill score his maiden century, leading his team to a comfortable victory at the Narendra Modi Stadium. With his century, Gill has become the first Indian to score his Test, ODI, T20I, and IPL century in the same year. His explosive innings against the SunRisers to lead their team secure their berth in the playoffs of this season have left many big names impressed. One of them is India’s former skipper Virat Kohli. Kohli took to his Instagram to bestow the 23-year-old with some words of appreciation. However, after his maiden IPL century, an old picture of him and Kohli has been doing rounds on social media.
Gill spoke about his admiration for the India great and said that Kohli has always been his inspiration. Meanwhile, a picture from the BCCI awards has gone viral when Gill called him his idol. Gill had previously revealed that he felt nervous on meeting Kohli for the first time, during BCCI events 2014-15. Reflecting on the memory, Gill said, “It’s so inspiring to be with someone like Virat Kohli and he’s been my idol since when I started playing cricket. Obviously, when you are a kid, you don’t know much about it (cricket), you just want to play it for the fun of it but as you start playing you learn more about the challenges and a lot more about the game [itself]. And he’s someone I have always looked up to. This was the first time I met him in Mumbai, so it was a pretty big moment for me."
Gill has become one of the brightest stars of Indian cricket in recent years. Despite his rise, the youngster didn’t forget to express his admiration for his idol. During the post-match presentation on Monday, he said, “When I was 12-13 years old, I followed Virat Kohli bhai the most, he has been my idol since I started understanding cricket. I learned a lot from Virat Bhai. His batting & passion & commitment motivates me."
