Kohli (l) and Gill (r) play the short-arm-jab.
After Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya and batsman KL Rahul were suspended for heir offensive remarks on a TV show, Vijay Shankar and Shubman Gill have been called up as replacements to the side for the Australia and New Zealand series respectively. While Shankar has already featured in 5 T20Is for India, this is Gill's maiden call-up to the national team. The 2018 U-19 World Cup winner is also famous for emulating the Indian captain Virat Kohli in not only the latter's hunger for runs but also his playing style.
During last year's World Cup, Gill had played a 'short arm jab' that seemed straight out of Kohli's batting manual en route an explosive innings of 90 off just 59 balls against Zimbabwe. At the occasion of the New Year, the BCCI had tweeted a clip of both the shots saying that they were one of the best images of 2018.
2018 was a breakthrough year for Gill as his skipper at the IPL, Dinesh Karthik said: "That boy is special. I don't want to hype it up and put extra pressure on him. I can see a lot of years of India Blues in him."
The 19-year-old has been in scintillating form of late in the Ranji Trophy hitting 790 runs in 10 innings at an average of 98.75 including a highest score of 268.
