Reunion With Old Friend On The Cards For India T20I VC Shubman Gill During IND vs UAE, Left-Arm Spinner Recalls Training With Star Batter

Shubman Gill is not only being looked at as the future of Indian cricket, but he is also being considered as the next big thing in international cricket and rightfully so. After his exploits as a Test batter and a skipper in the recently concluded Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy series, Gill was appointed as Suryakumar Yadav's deputy in the Indian T20I team for the upcoming 2025 edition of the Asia Cup that starts on September 9, 2025.

Simarjeet Singh Looks Forward To His Meeting With Shubman Gill

India are all set to open their campaign on September 10, 2025, with a match against the UAE. Interestingly, Shubman Gill has some sort of a connection to the UAE team, especially Simarjeet Singh. The 35-year-old slow left-arm orthodox bowler will be in action when both the teams lock horns in the second game of the upcoming 2025 edition of the Asia Cup.

Former India manager and UAE coach Lalchand Rajput lavished praise on Simarjeet Singh and said that he has a lot of heart and loves to give his deliveries a lot of air and flight. According to Rajput, Simarjeet has clinched a lot of wickets due to the quality that he possesses. Prior to the India vs UAE clash, Simarjeet Singh spoke about how he used to train with Shubman Gill.

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"I have known Shubman since he was a kid, but I don't know if he remembers me. It was around 2011-12 and Shubman must have been 11 or 12 at the max. We used to train at the PCA Academy in Mohali from 6am to 11am. Shubman would come accompanied by his father at around 11am. Don't know if he would recognise me but during those days, I had bowled a lot to Shubman," said the left-arm orthodox bowler as quoted by NDTV Sports.

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Here's Everything You Need To Know About Simarjeet Singh

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) spinner played a lot of district cricket in Punjab. He was also included in the probables of the state's Ranji side in 2017, but he did not get enough chances and his dreams of playing for India slowly faded away. Life changed for the UAE spinner when he visited the country for 20 odd days in April, and he had to stay back after the second wave wreaked havoc.

Since 2021, Simarjeet started coaching young players in the UAE, and once the Emirates Cricket Board offered him a central contract, then there was no looking back.