There comes a time in an elite batter’s career when he can’t do anything wrong. You middle everything and no longer need to get your eye in. That’s already done, even before you step on the field. The edges fall short or go in no man’s land. The average cricket enthusiast will know this as the ‘peak’, and Shubman Gill has entered that.
For elite batters, the peak age is something like 26 to 32. Given they are extremely talented, they debut at a younger age, and by their late 20s, they know their game inside out, are still in their physical prime, and have reached a new level of maturity, often not just as sportsmen.
Shubman Gill enters his peak
Ishan Kishan‘s recent rise is one such example. Gill actually entered his ‘peak’ in 2025. He’s scored 1382 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the last 2 years. But the England tour was the start of it all at the international stage. 147, 269, 161, 103 – these were some of his scores in the 5-match Test series.
Gill has maintained that form in Test cricket, with one hundred and two fifties in the next 5 innings. In fact, he averages a mind-boggling 87.75 in red-ball cricket since replacing Rohit Sharma as captain. His T20I returns weren’t great in 2025, but his ODI numbers were the actual disappointment.
He managed just 43 runs in 3 matches in his debut series as India’s ODI captain against Australia. Gill was better against New Zealand, scoring two half-centuries, but he still missed out. It seems like now is truly the time. He’s entered that peak in ODI cricket as well. The 84-run knock against Afghanistan in Dharamshala was Gill’s highest score as ODI captain.
A game later, he has his maiden hundred as skipper. This will become the norm in the coming years. Virat Kohli, who enjoyed one of the greatest peaks in cricket, enjoyed success you could dream of. From 2012 to 2019, Kohli scored 18,295 at 60.78 across all forms. Joe Root was the next best, with 4,187 fewer runs.
Gill might be at the start of something similar. Over the next half-decade, he should be the man at the centre of it all. Perhaps he won’t play many T20Is like Kohli, but the ‘Prince’ seems ready for a ‘King’ like peak in ODI and Test cricket. This hundred in Lucknow might be the starting point of it all.
Mission ODI World Cup 2027
However, unlike Kohli, Gill has a slight advantage. During Kohli’s prime, India hardly won any ICC trophies. Meanwhile, the Men in Blue have won 3 ICC titles in the last 3 years. They’ve now got the all-time great white-ball team. The only thing eluding them is the ODI World Cup trophy.
Gill was part of the 2023 campaign where Australia piped India in the final. Now, he has the opportunity to lift the most coveted trophy in cricket not just as India’s best batter but also as captain. It’ll be poetic if Kohli and Rohit stand next to him, as both have given their all to finish on a high.
Shubman Gill’s ODI batting stats
| Span | Innings | Runs | Highest Score | Average | Strike Rate | 100s | 50s | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| As captain | 2025-2026 | 8 | 366 | 104* | 61.00 | 105.99 | 1 | 3 |
| Not as captain | 2019-2025 | 55 | 2775 | 208 | 59.04 | 99.56 | 8 | 15 |
Cricket
Shubman Gill registers first ODI hundred as India captain, puts mission ODI World Cup 2027 in effect
