SHUBMAN GILL (L) with his boyfriend, a specialist in trust and side arms Avinash Kumar. (Figure: Special Arrangement) Dubai: For years he sold Ram Vilas Shah, a migrant worker from Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh, fruit juice on his rehri (wheelchair) outside the goal of the IS Bindra stadium in Mohali. His daily customers were a young dough named SHUBMAN GILL and his father Lakhwinder, who would stop on a glass of Mosambi juice. The son of Ram Vilas, Avinash Kumar, was a quick pitch and trained on the ground behind the stadium Mohali.One day in 2014 Lakhwinder saw Avinash near the wheelchair and asked about his father. “I told him,” Paaji, I stopped cricket. I work in a photo studio. Today I am here because my father is not right, ”recalls Avinash in an interview with Timesofindia.com.
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“I played cricket after my father asked for one of the PCA coaches. I have been a senior for two years to shubman. I was a quick pitch, but I left cricket because of the financial restrictions of our family,” he explains.A few months later, Lakhwinder saw Avinash again on his father’s trolley and blast him to end the cricket.
India and dough captain SHUBMAN GILL (R) with Avinash Kumar. They were together from the first days of Gilla in the cricket Pandjab. (Figure: Special Arrangement)
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“Lakhwinder Paaji was angry. He told me that cricket could change your family’s life. He was dissatisfied with my decision to leave the cricket and after I told him I was working in a photo studio,” he says with laughs.A week later, Lakhwinder showed Avinash video about the side arm scrotum and asked him to start exercising and take the professions seriously.“I saw a video. Lakhwinder Pataji helped me get one side weapon and I started to handle it,” he says.Since then, Avinashov’s friendship with Shaubman Gill has increased.“I knew him from the Academy. But now I became his personal side arm.Also read | ‘Shaant and Shaitaan’ – Story of SHUBMAN GILL AND ABHISHEK SHARMAAvinash would earn RS 150-200 a day, but personally never took Penny from SHUBMAN or his father.“I never had money from SHUBMAN’s father. It was my main light. He gave me money during festivals like Holi and Diwali. He took me to the hospital and also helped my family whenever we were in need. I will always be grateful,” he says.Avinash remembers the early changes in Shubman’s launch.“Lakhwinder Paaji got angry whenever SHUBMAN played a lofted shot. SHUBMAN would hit V. Only after the U-19 World Championship, followed by IPL, began to work on the reach,” he says.“It surprised me because he said,” What is the point of getting out and trying to get two more runs? I can hit the boundaries without risking. “But he realized that he had to work in six hit in the T20.
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Avinash also explains how careful Gill preparations are.“It comes to each network session with a goal. Even if bats for three hours, they have the same intention. He watches his videos on the networks, checks areas where he is troubled, watches his release and follows the same routine the next day,” he adds.In 2019, Avinash became a side arm throw for the Pandjab Ranji team and immediately liked higher professionals such as Mandeep Singh and Gurkeerat Mann, while teaching with young people like SHUBMAN, Abhishek Sharma, Prabhsimran Singh and Anmolpreet Singh.
Captain Gujarat Titans SHUBMAN GILL during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 T20 cricket match. (PTI)
In 2024, in joke he told SHUBMAN: “Yaar abSHUBMAN’s assurances gave him hope. “He told me I didn’t have to worry.”At the beginning of this year, Avinash played with his newborn son in Chandigarh when he got a call from SHUBMAN.“SHUBMAN told me to pack my bags because he would soon call Gujarat Titans. I got my spikes, clothes, mobile phones – but that was something else. It was rare,” he recalls.Even before the IPL 2025, SHUBMAN eyes were set in a series of five tests against England. With Khushpreet Singh Aulakh, his mentor and childhood friend, around, he also needed someone to challenge him with a red ball. Avinash had a reputation for the disturbing pandjab dough during the runway.
SHUBMAN GILL (BCCI Photo)
“It was KP’s idea of PAAJI. He told SHUBMAN to start exercising with a red ball during the IPL itself.“When I joined the Titans, SHUBMAN ordered me to invite him on nets with a red ball. I started doing it. I make dough with a red ball. With a white ball, the thrower gives the thrower to hit, but it’s a battle with a red ball,” Avinash says.Avinash bent down in the backs in the nets and helped SHUBMAN AMASS 754 to run in England.Avinash doesn’t want credit. “It’s all his hard work. I gave him so many bruises, but he never complained. His father first and then KP Paaji – the two of them made a shubman what he was today,” he says.“Maine Kya Kiya Basko will jump Karwayi (I only helped him knock). For what his father did for me and my family, I will always be indebted,” he says.In his father’s basket, the SHUBMAN meeting for Avinash was a blessing. Now Gills considers his own family. In that wheelchair, SHUBMAN found not only juice – but a lifelong friend and confidant.
