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Striking Similarities Between India's New Number 4 Shubman Gill And Virat Kohli

Anurag Dasgupta

Similarities between Kohli and Gill [Source: @StarcKKR/x.com] Similarities between Kohli and Gill [Source: @StarcKKR/x.com]

It has been confirmed, that Shubman Gill will bat at number 4 in the upcoming Test series against England, starting on June 20. Rishabh Pant, the vice-captain of the team attended the pre-game press conference on Wednesday and gave a hint on Team India's batting order.

Gill also became the captain of the Test team and will have the huge responsibility to carry out the Indian batting lineup. Interestingly, the new number 4 Test batter has a striking feature with former Test captain and number 4 batter, Virat Kohli. Gill will replace Kohli and here are 3 similarities the duo have with each other.

1) Both the India stars are Punjabi

Kohli lives in London and Mumbai and was born in Delhi but he belongs from a Punjabi family. He used to live in West Delhi, a place known for having Punjabi families all around.

Similarly, Gill is also a Punjabi and was born in Fazilka, Punjab. He did majority of his cricket  training there and represented them in Indian domestic cricket.

2) Both use MRF bat

In his early days in Indian cricket, Kohli used to play with a Reebok-sponsored bat. He scored truckloads of runs with it before MRF came calling and he switched to an MRF-sponsored bat, just like his idol, Sachin Tendulkar.

Similarly, Gill used to play with CEAT sponsored-bat but recently he also followed his idol - Kohli's footsteps and agreed on a deal with MRF. After switching to MRF, Kohli became a legend of the game and Gill would love to follow the same path.

3) Both played at number 4 after legend's retired

Before the 2013 South Africa tour, Kohli used to bat at number 5 in Test cricket and that was because Sachin Tendulkar had a designated number 4 slot. However, when the God of Cricket retired, Kohli was promoted to the coveted number 4 spot and this is where he carved a name for himself in Tests.

Similarly, Gill usually opened the innings and played a handful of games at number 3. But with another legend, Kohli retired, Gill has been given the same number 4 spot which was once occupied by the greats of the game.