When a son of a juice seller helped Shubman Gill improve his batting and range of shots

Ram Vilas Shah, a migrant labourer from Uttar Pradesh's Kushinagar sold fruit juice for years on his cart outside Gate No. 1 of the IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali. Among his regular customers were a young cricketer named Shubman Gill and his father Lakhwinder, who would have a glass of mosambi juice. Meanwhile, the juice seller's son, Avinash Kumar, was a pacer and trained at the ground behind the stadium, TOI reported.

Avinash, in conversation with TOI, recalled that in 2014, he talked to Gill's father.

"I told him, 'paaji, I've quit cricket. I am working in a photo studio. Today I am here because my father is not well,'" Avinash said.

He said that he was two years older to Shubman but had to quit cricket because of financial constraints. He had started playing cricket on the request of his father to one of the PCA coaches.

Lakhwinder was not happy with Avinash quitting cricket.

"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 after I told him that I work in a photo studio," he told TOI.

Shubman's father then showed Avinash a video of a side-arm thrower and asked him to start practising and take the sport seriously. He also helped the young boy get a side-arm and start practicing.

This was the start of the friendship between Avinash’s and Shubman.

"I knew him from the academy. But now I became his personal side-arm thrower. Woh din tha aur aaj ka din hai. Hum ikkathe hai (There was that day and it is now. We've been together)," Avinash said.

Avinash earned around Rs 150-200 per day but never took a single oenny from Shubman or his father, even after he became the Indian Test captain's personal side-arm thrower.

"I never used to take money from Shubman's father. He has been my guiding 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 said.

Talking about early changes in Shubman's batting, Avinash said Lakhwinder got angry whenever his son played a lofted shot, adding that the young Shubman would play only in the V.

He revealed that Shubman only started working on range hitting following the U-19 World Cup and the IPL.

"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.' But he realised that in T20, he needed to work on six-hitting. He started working on it and never looked back," Avinash recalled.

(With TOI inputs)