There was no final Test at Wankhede where Shubman Gill could hoist Virat Kohli in his shoulders and officially take over the burden of maintaining India’s Test honour. But widely believed to be the heir apparent to Kohli, Gill took to Twitter via Gujarat Titans for a warm farewell note for Kohli.
The two north-siders are not exactly equal in personalities, but in a post captioned ‘From Prince to King’, Gill promised to inherit that X-factor of energy and intensity and most importantly pride in Test cricket, while scribbling his thoughts.
On a day when even the briefing Director General of Army mentioned he was a fan of Kohli and India would miss him, there was curiosity over how Gill, next in line allegedly, would react.
He started: “Anything I write for you Paaji will never capture what I feel or what impact you’ve had on me.”
The two have been on the Test team together the last few seasons, and Gill has definitely miffed off Kohli’s love for fitness and tunnel vision focus for the game.
Anything I write for you, paji, will never truly capture what I feel or the impact you’ve had on me.
From watching you bat when I was 13 and wondering how someone could bring that kind of energy to the field – to sharing the field with you and realizing no one else possibly can… pic.twitter.com/s6LhnPWbNK
— Shubman Gill (@ShubmanGill) May 12, 2025
Gill went on, “From watching you bat when I was 13 and wondering how someone could bring that kind of energy to the field – to sharing the field with you and realising no one else possibly can….” Gill almost had a mic-drop mid-post: “You’ve not just inspired a generation, you’ve reshaped mindset of millions.”
But the most reassuring aspect was in the penultimate paragraph, when he pledged to carry forward Kohli’s commitment to Test cricket. Born in this century and having grown up on T20, there will always very doubts if Gill – if assigned captaincy – can wrap his brain around the gravitas of that position of India Test captain ad batsman, a tough job.
India is yet to win a series in South Africa and the WTC.
Story continues below this ad
But Gill at least proposed he was up for the burden. “I know how much Test cricket meant to you and I hope our generation can carry forward the same fire and commitment.”
Thankyou for everything. Happy retirement, he ended.