Shubman Gill, the vice captain of India in the Twenty20 Internationals, revealed something incredible about how and when he first became interested in football. Neymar, a Brazilian football player, was acknowledged by the star batter for the same.
Shubman Gill got the first interest in football after watching the world cup 2014. He revealed that he would select the squad of the football player because he liked to watch Neymar.
Gill added that he no longer plays the video game FIFA ( Federation Internationale de Football Association ) as much as before. Moreover, he enumerated some of the popular English premier league teams he would like to play.
“I started actually watching football because of Neymar. I used to love watching the 2014 World Cup. I started watching football properly then. And I used to love watching Neymar, so whatever team he was in, I used to pick that. Ever since he’s gone to Saudi and now back to Brazil, I’ve kind of stopped playing FIFA. But whenever I do play, I remember I used to pick Liverpool in between because they had a very strong team. And then Man City,” he said. (via Apple Music’s YouTube channel)
The 26-year-old, who last played prior to the 2024 T20 World Cup, made a comeback to India’s T20I team. In addition to being listed among the 15 players, he was also selected the vice-captain of the current Asia Cup 2025 squad. Gill hit an undefeated 20 off nine balls as India chased down a 58-run target in 4.3 overs in their opening match of the multination event.
Shubman Gill shares his experience of meeting Bruno Fernandes and visiting Manchester United
Shubman Gill continued his discussion on football by mentioning the partnership between Manchester United and the Indian cricket squad. The fourth match of the five-match Test series between India and England was played at Manchester.
The Manchester United play ers and the Indian team met at the team’s Old Trafford training ground. It was incredible to meet the players, Gill thought. Players from both teams played football and cricket together in a friendly partnership.
He added that he had also met Bruno Fernandes and Mason Mount, both of whom play for United.
“We went to see all the players when we were in Manchester. Yeah, it was like a team collaboration between the Indian cricket team and the Manchester United team. All the players were really amazing. I met Mason Mount, whom I have known from before when he was playing in Chelsea, and met Bruno Fernandes. Most of the players, they all were so nice and so kind. We spoke about so much,” he said. (via the aforementioned source)
As India’s Test captain, Shubman Gill was on his debut trip. Both as the leader and as a hitter, he had an incredible series. With an exciting victory in the last Test, the tourists tied the series at two.
Gill really took the lead. With 754 runs from five games and four hundreds, including a double hundred, he finished as the highest run scorer.
