In one of the many viral reels featuring Shubman Gill, the Indian captain can be seen inching his swanky new Mercedes-AMG Roadster through a sea of paparazzi and fans. The convertible barely moves as cameras swarm around the vehicle. Sitting beside him is a largely unnoticed companion. It was much the same at Ahmedabad airport the morning after the IPL final. As Gill was mobbed, the hundred-odd metres from the terminal entrance to the boarding gate felt closer to a mile. Walking alongside him through the chaos was the same companion, equally unrecognizable to the crowd despite having shared much of Gill's cricketing journey.

Growing up in Punjab, that companion - MI New York's Kunwarjeet Singh and Gill were inseparable. Born in California before his family relocated to Punjab when he was nine, Kunwarjeet spent much of his formative years chasing the same dream as his childhood friend. Their days routinely began before sunrise. By seven in the morning, they would already be in the backyard nets at Kunwarjeet's house, batting 500 balls each in sessions that stretched for nearly three hours. After breakfast and a brief rest, they would return for another evening session, often facing another 200 deliveries apiece. This relentless cycle continued for a considerable part of their formative years.

The routines and sacrifices were near identical. The outcomes, however, were poles apart. While Gill had already represented India before turning 20, his closest friend could not even break into Punjab's Under-19 side.

"Cricket sab ko kuch na kuch deti hai, par usse India mein kabhi kuch nahi mila," says Agni Dev Chopra, Kunwarjeet's teammate at MI New York and another member of Gill's inner sanctum. What Chopra meant was simple. Cricket eventually rewards almost everyone with something. For reasons difficult to explain, it never seemed to reward Kunwarjeet during his years in India despite all the perseverance and sacrifices.

One look at Kunwarjeet play and it is easy to understand why Chopra speaks so highly of him. It is difficult to ignore the elegance in his strokeplay. The minimal fuss, the compact technique, the high elbows and the textbook side-on stance. He is one of those batters who appears to do everything according to cricket's coaching manual.

But Indian age-group cricket deals in only one currency: hundreds. There are batters whose methods may not be aesthetically pleasing but who consistently pile on runs. Kunwarjeet, by his own admission, was often the opposite.

"I was a net batsman," he says with a laugh. The kind who would look a million dollars in practice, only to flatter to deceive in matches after promising starts in the 30s and 40s. For all the elegance in his batting, the scorecards rarely reflected the promise he showed in the nets.

Despite failing to represent Punjab at any age-group level through the Under-19s, Kunwarjeet never seriously considered walking away from the game. In Indian cricket, once the Under-19 window closes without state representation, most players quietly drift out of contention. Kunwarjeet, however, almost doubled down on his pursuit. So singular was his obsession with cricket that he even dropped out of college in pursuit of that elusive breakthrough season.

"I never saw myself doing something else. Even after failures, I used to get disappointed and think maybe this is not for me, but I just couldn't stay away from the game. From the beginning the value system instilled in me by my mentor Khushpreet Aulukh was such that it made me believe if I kept working hard, eventually some day I would get a big break. He has had a tremendous impact on me over the years and the cricketer I am on and off the field has all been shaped by him," says Kunwarjeet.

All that perseverance finally bore fruit when an injury to Nehal Wadhera opened the door for Kunwarjeet in Punjab's Under-23 side. For someone who had endured rejection after rejection for nearly seven years, merely receiving the Punjab Cricket Association kit felt like a landmark moment. The PCA-inscribed shorts, cap and flannels represented far more than clothing. For every aspiring young cricketer in India, earning the state association kit is a badge of validation, proof that years of sacrifice had not been in vain. Overwhelmed with joy, Kunwarjeet recorded a video of the kit and sent it to his family.

Just as he was beginning to dream of bigger things and potentially a Ranji Trophy debut, fate intervened once again. The BCCI introduced a rule preventing non-Indian citizens from participating in Indian domestic cricket. That was when former USA chief selector and ex-Punjab batsman Sunny Sohal called, asked him to try his luck in the country of his birth with the MLC.

The move would alter his life. An unbeaten match-winning seventy in the final of USA Cricket's National 50-over Championship first pushed him into the reckoning. He followed it with a masterful 95 on a difficult surface in Minor League Cricket, enough for MI New York to take a punt on him.

"That was the first time in my life that I saw my father cry happily," Kunwarjeet recalls. "It was the first time I saw him hug me and cry with tears of joy." This was an emotional roller-coaster that father and son had been on together. There was the tough-love parenting that saw his father drive behind him while timing his daily five-kilometre runs with pads on. There was also the enormous financial sacrifice. After years of truck driving in America, his father had built a life for himself, eventually owning a gas station and liquor store. Much of it was later sold to support his son's cricketing ambitions in India.

Kunwarjeet spent much of MI New York's title-winning campaign on the bench. Yet when his opportunity finally arrived in the final, only the second innings of his MLC career, he made it count. Walking in after MI New York had lost three wickets for a solitary run in the closing overs, Kunwarjeet struck an unbeaten 22 off just 13 deliveries, an innings that ultimately proved decisive in the franchise's remarkable title triumph.

There are many things to admire about Kunwarjeet beyond his aesthetically pleasing batting. Years of disappointment appear to have only strengthened his optimism. Teammates speak glowingly about the positivity and energy he brings into the dressing room. Even while spending much of MI New York's title-winning 2025 season on the bench, Kunwarjeet carried himself with the same enthusiasm as those in the playing XI. His body language rarely mirrored the disappointments that had become so familiar with him over the years.

MI New York head coach Mark Boucher noticed those qualities almost immediately. "Coach Boucher applauded my attitude towards the game and towards that final," Kunwarjeet says. "He gave me an MI badge after the final and told me that my positive attitude was what brought that innings out of me and what got me into the team in the first place"

USA captain Monank Patel echoes similar sentiments, often taking time to discuss batting and international cricket with Kunwarjeet, drawn as much by his outlook as by his ability.

Yet perhaps the most treasured possession from that season is neither the MI badge nor the winner's medal. When Kunwarjeet returned home after the tournament and showed the medal to his mother, she kissed it and proudly wore it around her neck. It was almost poetic. For a family that had waited nearly two decades for cricket to give something back, it was a moment long overdue.