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Rise of Shubman Gill: How the 'Prince' of Indian cricket is turning into Men in Blue's new poster boy originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Shubman Gill has been named India's Test and ODI captain, with selectors positioning him as the new face of Team India.
- Gill's 269 at Edgbaston in 2025 is the highest score by an Indian Test captain and made him the first batter in 148 years to score 250 and 150 in the same Test.
- His 154 against Afghanistan in Lucknow on June 17, 2026, his ninth ODI century, powered India to their first 400+ score in nearly three years.
How the 'Prince' of Indian cricket is turning into Men in Blue's new poster boy
The "Prince" nickname has clung to Shubman Gill since his earliest days, even appearing on his bat stickers. Born in Fazilka and moved to Mohali aged eight for better facilities, Gill carried the elegance of a natural from the moment he debuted for India in 2019. But the first time anyone called him by that nickname seriously was Yuvraj Singh back in 2023.
As someone who single-handedly won India the 2011 World Cup, Singh understood what he was seeing as Gill continued to dazzle audiences both in the IPL and on the international stage.
With a double century scored against New Zealand in 2023 and back-to-back IPL finals in 2022 and 2023, Singh quickly dubbed the youngster the Prince.
Longtime IPL commentator Aakash Chopra went further, remarking that the young opener was "no lesser than the king," and the data was already beginning to back that view.
With Sachin already being called the God of Cricket and Virat Kohli being the King, Gill's nickname appeared to give him more justice than critics assumed.
MORE: IND vs AFG 2nd ODI score, result and highlights: Gill stars as India seal series win
From prodigy to India's New Captain
Gill's ascent accelerated at a pace the format had rarely seen from an Indian batsman. He reached 1,000 ODI runs in just 19 innings, the fastest any Indian had achieved the milestone, overtaking Kohli.
He reached 2,500 runs in 50 innings, breaking South African legend Hashim Amla's world record in the process.
And then at just 23, he became the youngest player in ODI history to score a double century, smashing 208 against New Zealand in January 2023.
It was the knock that confirmed what India's selectors had already long suspected about the trajectory this batter was on. But the biggest confirmation that he is the new face of ICT was yet to come.
It finally came in 2025 when, with the recent Test retirement of Rohit Sharma, the BCCI handed Gill the ODI captaincy with an eye on the 2027 World Cup.
He was already Test captain, and the dual appointment confirmed that India's cricketing architecture was now being built around one man.
His debut Test captaincy series against England in 2025 was the moment the royal epithet began to feel genuinely insufficient. Gill's 269 at Edgbaston was the highest score by any Indian Test captain in history, and he backed it up with 161 in the second innings of the same match.
MORE: Tracking Ishan Kishan's ODI career: India wicket-keeper stages dream comeback after three years
The numbers that define a generation
That innings made Gill the first batter in 148 years of Test history to score both 250 and 150 in the same match, while the 430-run tally in a single Test eclipsed a standard Sachin Tendulkar had reached only three times in a series.
In ODIs that India win, Gill averages over 70 at a strike rate above 105, with seven hundreds and 14 half-centuries. Those numbers, accumulated across conditions and continents, are the statistics of a batter who changes matches rather than merely contributing to them.
What separates Gill from the next tier of Indian batters is not just volume but adaptability. His technique suits pace in South Africa, swing in England, and spin across Asia. The Men in Blue have not had a batter this format-neutral since Kohli at his absolute peak.
MORE: Who won India A vs Afghanistan A today match?
The Afghanistan series and a new landmark
The 2nd ODI against Afghanistan in Lucknow on June 17, 2026, provided Gill's latest exhibit. His 154 off 110 balls, his 9th ODI century reached in 77 balls, was the innings that enabled India to post a 400-plus total. He absorbed pressure early before shifting into an entirely different gear.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli handed India a decade of dominance. Gill, at 26, is building a case for the next. The "Prince" title is one the cricketing world gave him. The record books are what he is writing for himself, and they are beginning to look very regal indeed.
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