English County side Glamorgan on Friday confirmed the signing of India opening batter Shubman Gill for the final four matches of their ongoing County Championship season. Gill will be eligible to represent Glamorgan from their County Championship match against Worcestershire, starting from September 5.
He becomes the seventh Indian player to sign up for the English domestic cricket season in 2022 after Cheteshwar Pujara (Sussex), Washington Sundar (Lancashire), Krunal Pandya (50-over matches for Warwickshire), Umesh Yadav (Middlesex), Navdeep Saini (Kent) and Mohammed Siraj (Warwickshire County matches).
Gill also becomes the third Indian to feature for Glamorgan in the County Championship after former India all-rounder and head coach Ravi Shastri (1987-91) and former India captain and current BCCI President Sourav Ganguly (2005).
"I'm looking forward to joining up with the Glamorgan squad as they push for promotion. I have always enjoyed playing here and I'm excited to experience County Cricket and the challenges it brings.""I would like to thank Glamorgan and BCCI for the opportunity, and I can't wait to get started for Glamorgan and test myself during a crucial part of the season," said Gill after signing his maiden County stint.
Gill has played 11 Test matches, scoring 579 runs at an average of 30.47. He was last seen in Test cricket during the rescheduled fifth Test against England in Edgbaston, Birmingham in July this year, making 17 and 4 in India's seven-wicket defeat.
He is coming off a superb run in ODIs, where he was adjudged Player of the Series for making 205 and 245 runs respectively against West Indies and Zimbabwe in two three-match 50-over away series.
"Shubman is a fantastic addition to the squad as we enter the back end of the County Championship. He is one of the most exciting young batters in the world and already has experience of batting in these conditions during his time with India."
"With Colin and Marnus away, we needed to strengthen the top-order during and with his international pedigree, Shubman is the ideal cover," said Mark Wallace, Director of Cricket, Glamorgan.In first-class cricket, Gill has struck 2,877 runs, with seven centuries and averages 53.27.
He was also the vice-captain of India's U19 World Cup-winning side in 2018 and was the tournament's second-highest run-scorer apart from being Player of the Tournament.Glamorgan have home matches against Worcestershire and Derbyshire, as well as away games against Middlesex and Sussex, as they push for promotion to Division One in the closing stages of this year's County Championship.