Born Ready

As the Cricket World Cup kicks into gear, all eyes seem to be on 24-year-old Shubman Gill, India's first sportsman to be birthed as a media superstar.

- JAMIE ALTER

FOR HIS FIRST GQ India cover shoot, Shubman Gill is not surrounded by an entourage, as is usually the case with celebrities, but by his family. Gill's father, Lakhwinder, watches his son intently and proudly, bereft of any overt emotion, while his wife Keart takes a stream of candid photos of her son on her iPhone, then gets her daughter Shahneel, who has had a fresh haircut, to approve. In between wardrobe changes, the family eats together. Jokes are shared, beaming faces chide each other, the young cricket star is fussed over. It's a moment to be savoured by the family whose roots are in Jaimal Singh Wala, a village in Punjab's Fazilka district.

In front of the camera, Gill is a natural and a consummate clotheshorse. He is not overawed by the occasion, and completely at home facing the photographer's bright lights. He runs his fingers across the fabric of the clothes on the rack, and helps identify which looks will best suit his lean body type.

Throughout the day, Gill's personal video crew documents the proceedings. He is creating a content archive, parts of which will be used for a future documentary on his life and career, akin to Michael Jordan's The Last Dance.

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