The young right-handed batter, Shubman Gill, was hailed to be the future superstar of Indian cricket after seniors like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli would hang their shoes across formats. It hasn’t been a smooth start for the right-handed batter in the longest format of the game.
Shubman Gill has notched up 1893 runs in the red-ball format in 59 innings at an average of 35.05 and a strike rate of around 60 with the help of seven half-centuries and five centuries at the best score of 128. But his recent performances have raised a few questions over his position on the national side.
The right-handed batter didn’t participate in the opening game of the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 down under because of the injury that he picked during the match-stimulation at the WACA in Perth. The Punjab-born looked in great shape on his return in the day-night practice at the Manuka Oval in Canberra with an unbeaten knock of 50 runs.
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Shubman Gill got starts in both the innings of the second day-night encounter at the Adelaide Oval. He clubbed a few boundaries in the first innings for his 31 runs before supremely getting over the skin of the Australia bowlers for his quickfire 28 runs until a brilliant delivery from Mitchell Starc shaped back to uproot the stumps of the batter.
“If Shubman Gill from Tamil Nadu, he would have been dropped”- Subramaniam Badrinath
The most embarrassing knock for the 25-year-old came during the third red-ball encounter at the Gabba in Brisbane when he chased an eighth-stump delivery to find the outside edge into the hands of the slip fielder on the score of one.
The same issue continued to the fifth and final game of the series at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). In the first innings, he was looking good until a break in concentration just before the lunch break saw him looking to use his feet against the off-spinner Nathan Lyon, only to get an outside edge into the hands of Steve Smith at first slip. In the following innings, he walked down the ground to play the cut shot but got under the edge of the blade to wicket-keeper Alex Carey.
Shubman Gill has now carried just 514 runs in the longest format in 21 innings in Australia, South Africa, and England at an average of around 18 with two half-centuries and the best score of 91 at the Gabba during the BGT 2020-21.
His numbers away from India are not up to the mark, with just 716 runs in 28 red-ball innings at an average of 27.54, shouldering on two half-centuries and one century. This comes at the comparison of 1177 runs in 31 red-ball innings at 42.04 and a strike rate of 59.75 with the help of four centuries and five half-centuries at the best score of 128.
Subramanian Badrinath, the former Indian batter, made a controversial remark against the batter, besides addressing that it wanted Gill to grind it out in the middle like Marnus Labuschagne and Nathan McSweeney, who also struggled against the Indian pace attack.
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“If this was Shubman Gill from Tamil Nadu, he would have been dropped. It is very difficult for me to see this. For that level, he has not lived up to expectations. You can get runs, or you cannot, but there should have been intent and aggression. I wanted him to tire out the bowlers. I want you to make the ball old.” The former Tamil Nadu batter expressed on Star Sports Tamil.
“Help your teammates and stand firm even if runs are not coming. Play 100 balls and tire the bowlers. This is what your team contribution [is supposed to be]. Labuschagne and McSweeney did that in a couple of games. By playing out a lot of dot balls, they had made Bumrah injured.” The famous commentators dropped a bombshell.
It will be interesting to see if the batter gets back to domestic cricket or if he gets selected for their upcoming five-match red-ball series in England.