Amanpreet Singh Gill, Kohli and Jadeja's Under-19 Teammate, Dies at 36
Amanpreet Singh Gill, a former Under-19 teammate of Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja, has died at 36, the Punjab Cricket Association confirmed.
The Punjab Cricket Association posted on X on Wednesday morning, and the cricket world paused. Amanpreet Singh Gill, a former Under-19 teammate of Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja, had died. He was 36.
That number does not settle easily when you read it. Thirty-six is an age where some cricketers are still grinding through domestic seasons, still believing there is one more chapter to write. In any other sense, it is far too young. Indian cricket registered the news on Thursday with the subdued shock that comes when someone from inside the system is taken this early.
The Punjab Cricket Association did not share details about the circumstances of Gill’s passing. No cause was given, no timeline beyond the day. What remained was the age, the name, and the connection to two of Indian cricket’s most decorated careers.
Kohli and Jadeja represent, between them, one of the most accomplished pairings that Indian cricket has produced in the modern era. Kohli’s batting records across all three formats are unlikely to be matched for at least a generation. Jadeja’s evolution from a reliable economical spinner into one of the finest all-rounders India has ever fielded is one of Test cricket’s most remarkable slow-burn stories. Both came through the Under-19 pipeline at a time when India was building the kind of development system that would eventually deliver consistent international success.
Amanpreet Gill shared that pipeline with them. He was there in the selection meetings, the training camps, the bus rides to away fixtures, and the nervous mornings before big junior matches. He played alongside players who would go on to define the sport for an entire country. What happened after, as it does for the vast majority of cricketers who come through the Under-19 ranks, is that his path separated from theirs.
The senior India jersey is earned by very few of the talented players who represent the country at junior level. The domestic game, with its own long rhythms and regional pressures, is where most of these careers find their final shape. That is not a failure. It is simply the mathematics of a talent pipeline that generates more quality cricketers than any single squad can carry.
Punjab has produced some of Indian cricket’s most distinguished names over the decades. The players who represent the state in Ranji Trophy cricket, who travel between cities for month-long away legs and come back to train for the next round, are serious athletes in every meaningful sense. Their careers happen largely without national attention. They push the famous names in practice, hold the domestic standard high, and keep the system honest.
Amanpreet Singh Gill was part of that world. His passing is a reminder that Indian cricket is a far larger thing than its most celebrated faces suggest. The people at the base of the pyramid carry the weight of the whole structure, and they deserve to be remembered when they are gone.
On Thursday evening in Lucknow, the IPL continued with exactly the kind of match that keeps fans locked to their screens even when the cricket gods decide to intervene.
Lucknow Super Giants posted 209 runs against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, a total that carried genuine threat. RCB came out to chase on reasonable terms. Then the rain arrived, uninvited, and reshaped everything.
When play resumed, the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method recalculated the target. RCB’s new number was 213, four more runs than they had been pacing for, compressed into fewer deliveries. The mental adjustment required of a batting side when the target shifts mid-chase is one of cricket’s most underappreciated pressures. You have organised your innings around one equation. The moment that equation changes, the batter at the crease has seconds to recalibrate their entire approach.
RCB could not find the adjustment. They finished on 203. Lucknow Super Giants won by 9 runs.
DLS does what mathematics can do, which is construct a fair target based on what has already happened. It cannot account for what the shift in target does to human confidence inside an innings. RCB’s batters had been building toward 209. When 213 appeared on the target board, the scoring rate required jumped sharply higher than what they had been managing. Those 9 runs will feel, to RCB fans, like 9 very specific moments where a boundary could have arrived and did not.
For Lucknow, the win keeps them in strong contention as the IPL group stage enters its decisive stretch. With 10 teams and tight standings, every match now carries playoff weight. Earning a result in a rain-complicated game, against a side with RCB’s batting depth, is the kind of gritty points collection that separates table-toppers from the sides watching the knockouts from home.
Two stories from Indian cricket on the same day. One from the franchise lights and the broadcast trucks and the sold-out stands. One from a quieter corner of the game, where someone who loved cricket and gave years to it is mourned by those who understood what he meant to the system.
The boys in India’s Under-19 circuit right now, competing across various cities this season, are already living both futures simultaneously. A handful will become the names that living rooms debate on Sunday evenings. Most will build careful, disciplined domestic careers, playing every season with the same seriousness whether or not a television camera is pointed at them.
Amanpreet Singh Gill played with Kohli. He played with Jadeja. He played for Punjab. He was 36 years old, and Indian cricket is a smaller place this week for the loss.