September 8, 1999- birthday of Shubman Gill, from a promising youngster to team India captain, who climbed the ladder quickly. Right after the retirement of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli from the Tests, BCCI assigned him for the Test captaincy during the Anderson-Tendulkar trophy in an away series against England, with a newly shaped team India. 

The 25-year-old became one of the youngest captains of India. Before the England tour in 2025, his overseas performance was under the scanner, but, with a new role, Gill performed supremely with his bat and saved the series for the Men in Blue. After The Oval Test, when India concluded the 5-match series, the scoreline was 2-2, which was considered one of the peak points of his international career. The right-hand top-order batter from Punjab was drafted into India's Under-19 side as the vice-captain for the 2018 World Cup after he made his first-class debut for Punjab in the Ranji Trophy. 

After a phenomenal performance with India U19, he made headlines for his Indian Premier League stints with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Gill did not wait too long to make his international debut. The Punjab-born made his Test debut in 2020 against Australia, but he had to wait for a while for his first Test hundred. Against Bangladesh in 2022, Gill slammed his first Test ton. A couple of games later, the top-order batter got his second T20I hundred against Australia in Ahmedabad. 

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Shubman's ODI beginning was disappointing; he took a couple of matches to accustom himself to the highest level of the game. After a couple of matches, he found his rhythm and cemented his place in the playing combination. 

List of the top 5 youngest Test captains for India:

• Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi: 21 years, 77 days
• Sachin Tendulkar: 23 years, 169 days
• Kapil Dev: 24 years, 48 days
• Ravi Shastri: 25 years, 229 days
• Shubman Gill: 25 years, 285 days (as of June 20, 2025)

In Match 10 of the Delhi Premier League 2025, Purani Dilli 6 (PD6) held their nerve and defeated West Delhi Lions (WDL) by 15 runs at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Even though the match looked close at one point, PD6 stayed calm and finished strong.

After being asked to bat first, PD6 got off to a flying start. Aarush Malhotra smashed 21 runs in just 8 balls and set the tone. They did lose a few quick wickets, but Samarth Seth steadied the innings with a classy 52 from 36 balls. He batted smartly and gave his team a good base. In the middle, Vansh Bedi chipped in with 19, while Dev Lakra played a brilliant knock of 47 from 31 balls. In the final overs, Ekansh Dobal 20 runs and Aayush Singh 4 runs finished well, helping PD6 post a big total of 186/6 in 20 overs.

Hrithik Shokeen bowled beautifully, picking up 2 wickets for just 23 runs in 4 overs. Shubham Dubey was also very effective with 2/26. Bhangwan Singh and Anirudh Chowdhary got one wicket each, but some expensive overs in the middle cost WDL. Chasing 187, West Delhi Lions never looked settled. They lost early wickets, and even though Krish Yadav hit a few quick runs (12 off 8), the pressure kept building. Ayush Doseja gave them hope with an explosive 41 off 22 balls, hitting some big shots all over the ground.

Nitish Rana added 15, while Shokeen and Dabla tried to hold on. But the required run rate kept going up, and tight bowling from PD6 in the final overs sealed the deal. Rajneesh Dadar was brilliant with the ball, taking 2 wickets for just 19 runs in his full 4 overs.

Aayush Singh also picked up 2 important wickets.  Lalit Yadav kept things in control with 1/32, while Pardeep Paraser and Udhav Mohan took one wicket each to stop the WDL batters from going big. PD6 played like a team, stayed calm under pressure, and walked off the field with a well-deserved win.

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Since its inception, the Indian Premier League (IPL) has become a breeding ground for impeccable talent and a platform for youngsters to showcase and display their cricketing prowess. Every season surprises cricket fanatics with emerging Indian players who can join the primary Indian cricket team.

As the recent tournament auctions held in Dubai suggest, it is evident that some new domestic-grown talent is on the field. Here are the four uncapped and emerging Indian players to check out for the IPL 2024 edition. 

Sameer Rizvi- Chennai Super Kings

Sameer Rizvi has much to discuss amongst the cricket fraternity. With the momentum shift in the management’s future planning and the change to a young-blood captain, Rizvi is someone that has in store for the Yellow arsenal.

The Chennai Super Kings spent INR 8.4 crore for the most expensive uncapped player at the auction. He established his name in the Uttar Pradesh T20 League last year, scoring 455 runs in ten games, including two 100s and a fifty.  

Kumar Kushagra- Delhi Capitals

Kumar Kushagra is Delhi Capitals’ latest addition, and he fetched a hefty Rs 7.2 crore at the auction. The youngster from Jharkhand rose to prominence after striking a double century against Nagaland in the Ranji Trophy’s pre-quarterfinals in 2022.

He has scored 1,245 runs in 19 first-class matches. Kushagra has been identified as an alternative for returning skipper Rishabh Pant. However, he has the potential to carve himself his own identity this season, both in the middle and behind the stumps.

Shubham Dubey- Rajasthan Royals

Shubham Dubey, a hard-hitting lower-order batsman, will join the Rajasthan Royals for the 2024 season after the team outbid the Delhi Capitals for him, paying INR 5.8 crore, which is 11.6 times his INR 50 lakh base price.

In 2023, Dubey scored 221 runs for Vidarbha in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. His strike rate of 190 was sufficient to entice franchises. Dubey, like Dhruv Jurel in 2023, has the potential to impress everyone with cameo appearances later down the RR order.

Arshin Kulkarni- Lucknow Supergiants

Arshin Kulkarni, the Solapur native, has been a regular on the Maharashtra team since he was under 14. The reliable pacer quickly became a reliable all-rounder with his explosive batting skills, helping Maharashtra win the under-19 Vinoo Mankad Trophy with a brilliant century against Mumbai in the final last year.

By December 2023, he had secured a seat on the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) roster for an introductory price of Rs 20 lakh. And, despite losing out on the under-19 World Cup final earlier this year, he’ll be looking to display a robust performance in his IPL debut.

Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra said that Shubham Dubey is an excellent buy for the Rajasthan Royals (RR) as a lower-middle-order batter heading into IPL 2024 as well. However, the Royals bought the Vidharbha player for ₹5.80 crore at the auction and they also purchased Rovman Powell for ₹7.40 crore as another big-hitting middle-order batter as well.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said: “They went with an extremely clear strategy into the auction, that they need batters who can bat down the order. For that, they first started bidding for Rovman Powell, who interestingly enough came in the first set, and they went after him. They said they needed him. I liked the clarity.”

The former India opener added: “They didn’t stop there. It wasn’t easy to buy an Indian finisher in this auction. Shubham Dubey, Shahrukh Khan and Kumar Kushagra were the options. They tried their best and acquired Shubham Dubey. He is a left-hander who has come from tennis-ball cricket. He can tonk the ball properly.”

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Shivam Dubey has smashed 485 runs at a stunning strike rate of 145.20 in 19 T20 innings as well. He also has a decent List A record, with 159 runs in six innings coming at a good strike rate of 90.34. Aakash Chopra also noted that the Rajasthan Royals failed to utilize the Impact Player rule effectively in IPL 2023 as well. However, Aakash Chopra also acknowledged that Jos Buttler’s indifferent form was another factor because of RR’s inability to reach the playoffs.

“Rajasthan, for a very strange reason, although they are a team that lays a lot of emphasis on analytics, a lot of people say that they can make their XI based on numbers, but despite that, they just could not crack the Impact Player rule,” Aakash Chopra concluded. “They used to have only five bowlers and six batters. Every team had a batter at No. 7 and an extra bowler but their team didn’t used to have one, and even if there was one, they weren’t able to use him properly. It was baffling.”