Aged 20, an average of 72.15, a strike rate of 74.84, four hundreds, eight fifties, a highest score of 268, knocks of 90 and 92 against South Africa A; replacing KL Rahul, a big reputation, in the form of his life, it seemed Shubman Gill's stars had aligned in the best manner possible when he received his maiden Test call-up for the home series against South Africa, last year. 

A solid technique and an unflappable temperament 

SPECIAL: @imVkohli invents short-arm jab & Shubman Gill reproduces it at #U19CWC

Here's the comparison of the unique shot -https://t.co/0PsVpk1lvR pic.twitter.com/3QfzQIBTue

— BCCI (@BCCI) January 19, 2018

Ajay Ratra, Punjab's coach when Gill made his Ranji debut had noted, "Gill has so much time in his batting. Even if the bowler is bowling quite fast, you won't feel that Shubman is being hurried into his shots. He has got a good balance as a batsman and he can convert good deliveries into runs too."

A talent, backed by even better performances 

Hailing from an obscure Fazilka, Punjab; Gill didn't have the glamour and blitz of Mumbai cricket growing up. That despite he was was recipient of BCCI's 'Best Junior Cricketer' (U-14 and U-16) award' in 2013-14 and 2014-15, same time when Shaw had turned into this teen sensation around the globe with his Harris Shield 546. But he proved his mettle in 2018 U-19 World Cup, bettering even Shaw and from there on, he has gone from strength to strength.

A cool and calm Shubman carried his great form in swinging New Zealand conditions, earlier, this year, as he again made a double-hundred and emerged as leading run-scorer in India A vs New Zealand A unofficial Tests, making 423 runs in three innings scoring 83, 204* and 136. Interestingly, he strikes at more than 70, and believes in putting back the pressure on bowlers, much like Kohli does.

With the Indian Test team, we see this issue of making changes that aren't needed and not being able to drop those, who should be. Case in point - India kept backing KL Rahul as opener despite his low string of scores to a point that it became ridiculous, that too with a certain Mayank Agarwal knocking the doors for longest time possible. The moment Mayank got his chance; he showed why it should have been earlier. In fact, even having Rohit Sharma as an opener, on back of white-ball exploits is as debatable especially given his age and a well known poor technique in swinging conditions.

Now, with the limited-overs series coming up, let's admit it won't be a surprise if KL Rahul takes everything by storm given his great white-ball run this year. And this will give rise to temptation of having him as replacement for Kohli and not Gill, which we have seen in Indian cricket too often. I mean, how on earth could KL get into Test side otherwise if not for his IPL run? Fact remains, despite a century Down Under, Rahul averages 20.78 after five Tests in Australia and he just has a hundred and a fifty each in the last 15 Tests he has played, with the fifty coming against Afghanistan.

Let Gill become what he deserves to be 

Virat Kohli became the Test player that he is because he was backed by a certain MS Dhoni in 2011/12 Australia tour where he made a career shaping century in Adelaide in 2012. If Gill is sidelined just because Rahul does well in preceding limited-overs series or some practice games or because he has successfully failed in Australia Tests earlier, it would be a crying shame. This is the best way to judge a player's caliber, play him in the toughest of spots, back him, give him the belief and that's how players are made.