Shubman Gill

Bowlers learned early to fear Shubman Gill's cover drive, a stroke that glides through the line with unhurried ease and punishes anything fractionally overpitched. The elegance masks a ruthless appetite for big scores, especially in white-ball cricket, where he has grown from a stylish prospect into a run-machine who can dismantle attacks in the powerplay or marshal a chase with calm authority.

Gill's rise was mapped early, from Under-19 World Cup success to a pivotal role in India's Test series win in Australia in 2020-21, where his 91 in the Brisbane chase announced him on the biggest stage. He won the IPL Orange Cap in 2023 with Gujarat Titans, the side he now captains, and struck a double century in ODIs against New Zealand the same year. By 2025 he had been appointed India's Test captain, marking the new job with a double hundred in England, and he played a central part in the Champions Trophy triumph that spring. The cover drive remains his signature, but his growing ability to shift between anchoring and accelerating marks him out as the leader of India's next batting generation.