'Smoothman Gill': Sunil Gavaskar comes up with new nickname for star Indian batsman

Legendary India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar is making headlines for the new nickname he has termed for star Indian player Shubman Gill. The 23-year-old is one of the most impressive cricketers on the rise currently, who has made a mark for himself in his short international career so far. After his unbeaten knock of 40 runs in the second ODI against New Zealand, Gill had a fun chat with the legendary Sunil Gavaskar. 

Revealing that he has a new nickname for Shubman, Gavaskar said, “I have given you a new nickname, Smoothman Gill. I hope you don't mind”. Replying to Gavaskar’s remark, Shubman said, “ "I don't mind at all, sir”. It is pertinent to mention that the Team India opener recently became the fifth Indian batter to score a double century in the 50-over format of the game after Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, and Ishan Kishan.

Shubman Gill fastest to 1000-run mark in ODIs

He has also surpassed the 1000-run mark in the format in just 20 games. In the first ODI of the ongoing three-match series against New Zealand, Gill became the eighth batter to score a double century in the format. His knock of 208 runs helped Indi secure a 1-0 series lead, which was doubled in the second ODI. In the series opener, the star cricketer surpassed Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan’s records to become the fastest Indian to score 1000 runs in ODIs.

While Kohli and Dhawan achieved the milestone in 24 innings, Shubman reached the tally of 1000 runs in just 19 innings. Gill also became the youngest cricketer to score a double century in men’s ODIs with his knock. At the age of 23 years and 132 days, Shubman surpassed Ishan Kishan in the record books, who was 24 years and 145 days old on December 10. 

"I will hit you if you're going to bowl bad balls"

After his heroic double century in the 1st ODI vs New Zealand, Shubman spoke to reporters in the post-match press conference and said, “My main focus was to show some intent to the bowler because it becomes very easy for the bowler to bowl dot balls if the batsman is not going to show any intent that he's going to hit any boundaries - even if we have lost a wicket. So that was my intent - even when wickets were falling to show the bowler that I will hit you if you're going to bowl bad balls."