A charpoy, a wall and Shubman Gill’s start in cricket

Brut India

From bouncing a ball off a wall at age 3 to hitting a half century at the India-Bangladesh World Cup match… this is where Shubman Gill’s cricket journey started. The Grade Cricketer

Transcript

00:00Yeah, I don't really have any coach other than my dad, like, not any primary coach.

00:24I didn't have anybody to throw balls to me.

00:32I want to start from the beginning.

00:34You grew up in Punjab. I'm telling you things you already know.

00:37You had a bat in your hand at age three.

00:39Some might say that's starting a little late in India.

00:42What are your memories of playing cricket as a kid?

00:44And did you do anything unique to become especially skillful?

00:48I think when I first started playing cricket,

00:51I didn't have anybody to throw balls to me.

00:53So I used to hit on the wall and the ball used to come back to me.

00:57So I used to try to keep the streak going on.

01:00So I used to give up 50-60 balls continuously, you know, just so that the streak could go on.

01:05So that's how I basically started playing cricket.

01:08And then my dad saw me one day and then he thought, you know,

01:11it's pretty cool for a three or four year old kid to keep continuously doing that.

01:17So that's when he actually thought, okay, he might be good.

01:21And that's when we actually started practicing and having fun.

01:24I know your dad's sort of been your coach your entire life, Shubham,

01:27but have you had any other coach at any point?

01:29And how does your dad deal with Ravi Shastri?

01:32No, actually, I don't really have any coach other than my dad,

01:36like not any primary coach, but in the under 16s and under 14s,

01:41we used to have like state coaches and stuff like that.

01:43But my dad has been my primary coach throughout.

01:47I made a, like in our under 16 districts, that's like a pretty competitive cricket.

01:52So the players don't usually retire after, you know, getting a 50 or 100.

01:56They keep on playing because obviously they want their team to win.

01:59It's a three-day matches, like a 90-over game.

02:02So I made a 350 in one game and then I made a 400.

02:08But yeah, players in India, like they don't like,

02:10I don't think anyone, any batsman likes to retire after getting a 50 or after getting 100.

02:15With those innings, did you just sort of throw it away at the end?

02:18Were you disappointed?

02:19I was not out when I made a 400.

02:22I was very sad when I got out on 350, to be honest.

02:27I have not been told a major technical change in my game,

02:32like for a long, long time.

02:33I can't remember someone telling me not to change a major thing in my betting

02:37for the last two, three years.

02:39So I think the way they coach here is, I think it's a little bit different

02:43because the players, they play so much of cricket and they've been playing for so long.

02:47It's a little bit difficult for them if you ask them to change their grip

02:50or to change, to make a huge technical change.

02:54So the coaches tend to make changes that would be more of technical

03:02or the technique that they have.

03:04They'll try to strengthen the players around that technique

03:08rather than to change the whole thing and to start from scratch.

03:13For more information visit www.fema.gov

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