Former India opener Virender Sehwag gave a stern warning to young and rising India opener Shubman Gill about performing consistently. He even gave the examples of legends like Rahul Dravid, and Sachin Tendulkar who were never dropped from the team due to their consistent run-making.
Shubman Gill, the Gujarat Titans’ skipper, has had an inconsistent performance in the present IPL 2024. He had a terrific start to the season, but in recent games, the top opener’s runs have dried up.
The opener was also left out of the T20 World Cup team, although he was added to a four-man reserve list with Rinku Singh, Avesh Khan, and Khaleel Ahmed.
He failed to cash in on a good pitch in Bengaluru, in GT’s recent match against RCB and made only 2 runs in 7 balls. Former India opener Virender Sehwag, however, backed Gill to return stronger and also had advice for the young opener as he faces a rough patch.
Shubman Gill’s lucky that his name is in the T20 World Cup reserves: Virender Sehwag
Sehwag reflected on his own playing days, mentioning Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, and VVS Laxman as he discussed Gill’s lack of run-scoring. He even called Gill lucky to be in T20 World Cup reserves as there were far better options in KL Rahul and Ruturaj Gaikwad, who have more runs than him in IPL 2024.
“I think he’s lucky that his name is in the T20 World Cup reserves. KL Rahul and Ruturaj Gaikwad are not even in that. That’s a good point and he should be motivated by that. Next time, he should not let his place go once he gets a chance. He should focus on scoring runs at a good strike-rate so he doesn’t get replaced,” Sehwag told Cricbuzz.
“In my days, we had Ganguly, Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman. It doesn’t matter how many runs the other guys scored, these guys didn’t go out because they never stopped scoring runs. How will you drop them if they keep scoring runs? They never gave a reason to get dropped. This is what Shubman Gill has to learn. Once he returns to Indian team and plays regularly post the World Cup, he shouldn’t let such an opportunity arise again. Improve your skills and score big, because big scores will eventually save you,” said Sehwag further.
GT only managed to post 142 runs on the board against RCB and though they gave RCB a scare despite Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli adding 92 runs in 6 overs, RCB managed a comfortable 4-wicket win over GT.
This leaves GT at the ninth spot in the IPL 2024 table with four wins from 11 games but are behind RCB and Punjab Kings – both on 8 points – on net run rate.
Also Read: Sourav Ganguly Reveals The Reason Behind Rinku Singh’s T20 World Cup Squad Exclusion
