Hail the prince: Gill fulfils a prophecy but doubts remain

Tourists' new captain is living up to stellar career predictions but still has plenty to prove in Tests

- Ali Martin

Shubman Gill was a pretty laid-back character when he played for Glamorgan three summers ago. So laid back, in fact, that early on during his time there he parked the brand new Volvo the club had arranged for him and apparently left the keys in the ignition. Sure enough, after training, he returned to find it had been pinched.

Cue panic in the finance department at Sophia Gardens, calls to the insurers and the like. But at least his new teammates had material for some lighthearted mickey-taking. Gill, just turned 23 but already an India star on the rise, had arrived for three September rounds of the County Championship in 2022. Saying hello with 92 on debut in Cardiff, and goodbye with 119 at Hove, it sounds like he fitted in well.

"When he first turned up to nets, you knew he was just a class above everyone else," Sam Northeast, the club's middle-order veteran, tells the Guardian. "I don't want to put down other overseas players I've played with over the years but he was on a different level to a lot of them. It was just the amount of time he had, the shots he possessed, and the ability to place the ball where he wanted. We knew he was a star in the making.