In his young days, Shubman Gill and his father, Lakhwinder, used to stop outside Gate no. 1 for a glass of sweet lemon juice from Ra, Vilas Shah, a migrant laborer from Kushinagar at the IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali. Ram’s son, Avinash Kumar, used to be a fast bowler and trained outside the ground. In 2014, Gill’s father spotted Avinash near the cart.

Due to the financial issues, Avinash, who is two years senior to India's red-ball captain, decided to quit cricket. A few months later, when Lakhwinder spotted the youngster at his father’s cart again, he blasted him for leaving the game. He showed Avinash the video of a side-arm thrower and suggested that he practice with a professional.

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“Lakhwinder paaji was angry. He told me cricket can change your family’s life. He was unhappy with my decision to walk away from cricket and was even more miffed when I told him that I work in a photo studio.” Avinash expressed during a recent interaction on The Times of India.

Story of fruit-juice seller’s son strengthening Shubman Gill’s batting

Avinash’s friendship with Gill grew stronger, and the former became the Punjab batter’s side-arm thrower. He would earn INR 150 to 200 per day, but personally never took a single penny from Gill’s father. He also looked back at the time when Lakhwinder used to get angry whenever Gill played a big shot, reckoning that there was no need for an extra risk.

“Lakhwinder paaji used to get angry whenever Shubman played a lofted shot. Shubman would only hit in the V. It was only after the U-19 World Cup, followed by the IPL, that he started working on range-hitting. It surprised me because he used to say, ‘What’s the point of getting out trying to score two extra runs? I can hit boundaries without taking risks!” Avinash expressed during the interaction.

In 2019, he became the side-arm thrower of Punjab’s Ranji side and practiced with Mandeep Singh, besides growing bonds with Prabhsimran Singh and Abhishek Sharma. Later, he joined the Gujarat Titans on Gill’s recommendation, where the latter asked him to challenge the batter with the red ball before the England series.