Embarking on a new journey as India Test captain, Shubman Gill passed his first big Test with a sublime century at Headingley on day one of the first Test.
“I’m him.”
Popularised by rapper Kevin Gates’s 2019 album of the same name, these two (or three) words have become perhaps the most-used online slang of the 2020s, by fans across sports.
It’s become widespread enough for players themselves to pull it out on occasion – basketballers LeBron James and Ja Morant, and footballer Amadou Onana haven’t shied away from making those declarations themselves. Modern-day cricket may be relatively less influenced by AAVE (African American Vernacular English), but the Internet makes complete immunity impossible – here’s RCB using the phrase about Virat Kohli.
Even if cricketers themselves haven’t quite adopted the words yet, their spirit running through the game is unmistakable.
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Shubman Gill came into this match as India’s new Test skipper, praised and panned in almost equal measure – the former for his immense talent and the latter for his failure to deliver on said talent thus far.
Before Leeds, Gill had played 13 Tests outside Asia, in a shade over four years’ time. He had three scores of 40 or more, which had all come in his debut series Down Under in 2020-21. It meant that over those four years, he barely averaged over 25 when batting away from the subcontinent.
When he’d broken into Test cricket, it seemed that if anything, he would have the opposite problem. Ever since the 2018 U19 World Cup, it was clear that Gill had been trained and moulded to bat overseas. At his age, or any age for that matter, few could claim to be naturals against the short ball to the extent that he was.
Former India selector Jatin Paranjape said of a 20-year old Gill: “In 2019, Raghu [India’s throwdown specialist] was bowling 150-plus, everybody else [was] struggling… and he’s bowled a bouncer to Shubman at the centre pitch at Gahunje Stadium in Pune. And he’s just gone on the front foot and whacked it, and it’s gone like one outswinger into the 50th row of the stand.
“There’s one big clang, and everyone just looked at the ball and looked at Shubman. I had made up my mind at that time that this guy is something special. [Right now], we’ve not even seen 30 per cent of Shubman Gill as a batsman.”
He did struggle early on. In 2021 and 2022, Gill averaged exactly 30 in Asia. Across the last two years, including home series against Australia and England, that shot up to 50.8.
Part of that improvement entailed an eschewing of the natural technique he had grown up with. Gill began to commit on the front foot more, which helped bring the bat down straighter and deal with two things; the lower bounce prevalent on Asian wickets, and the inswinger.
Clearly, the technical shift led to improved returns. But it perhaps hampered him abroad. Committing earlier, playing straighter, and sometimes seemingly caught in two minds whether to implement his shift or let his instincts take over, Gill had more than a few ugly dismissals, most recently in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia.
Read: How a different trigger movement might be hampering Shubman Gill's Test returns
Shubman Gill rediscovers his natural game
But at Headingley, the clarity of thought was visible. He went back to his roots, almost camping on the back foot to deal with England’s four-seam attack of Woakes, Carse, Tongue and Stokes. When his weight went forward, it didn’t lurch after the foot was planted, but transferred smoothly as the heel-toe snapped into place alongside. When he walked down the wicket, the back foot didn’t drag along the floor as it has tended to of late – it moved purposefully and guided the rest of his balance.
Only 17 of Gill’s 127 runs on the day came in the ‘V’. 25 were through the covers, which he accessed with that trademark squarish bat angle. Another 24 came in the midwicket region, as he pulled in front of square with disdain – on one occasion late on, even threading it between three fielders within 50 yards of the wicket before a fourth had to stop it on the boundary.
Make no mistake, the surface had precious little by way of help for the bowlers, and England’s quicks certainly did not help their own cause. But runs are runs, and goodness knows Gill must have felt in desperate need of them. The three-figure mark was marked by his trademark graceful bow, but not before he ripped off his helmet, thrust his fist skywards and yelled to the heavens, in almost Virat Kohli-esque fashion. It wasn't just joy – relief was very much part of the equation.
Kohli had come into the 2018 tour of England with similar skepticism over his ability to perform on the shores he now calls home, and compiled an exhilarating 149 in the first Test, as India crumbled around him and eventually lost the match.
The title of Indian Test captain can be a crown of thorns, but on Friday it seemed to have no bearing at all on Gill’s batting, sitting as lightly on his head as the “Prince” sticker did on his new MRF blade – both reminders of a certain man who had occupied the positions of captain and No.4 not so long ago.
It is one of sport’s great cliches to have a player backed into a proverbial corner come out swinging in a blaze of glory. But that endears, and endures. The first innings at Headingley was Shubman Gill’s “I am him” moment. Fittingly, it needed him to rediscover what he is all about.
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