New Delhi, Jan 2 Former India head coach Ravi Shastri said a player of Shubman Gill’s quality must feature in India’s playing eleven in Tests, adding that how he fits in for the Sydney Test against Australia is the team’s call.
Gill was a surprise omission from India’s playing eleven for the Boxing Day Test against Australia, where they lost by 184 runs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Though Gill averaged 43.3 in Tests in 2024, it came down to 23.8, which played a part in him being left out for Washington Sundar at Melbourne.
“There’s Shubman Gill, a player of his quality averaging over 40 in the year 2024 and not playing, which is a shame. It tricks your brain as to what he’s doing sitting on the bench and warming it. I'm trying to think, if I had to make him sit out or make a player who is averaging 40 sit out, what will I tell him?”
“How can he be out of the XI is my question. Now how he comes into the XI, that's the call of the team. When you average over 40 in the year 2024, not many players have averaged over 40 – I think he's averaging 43 or 44 – for him to be sitting and cooling his heels must be one of the toughest pills to swallow,” said Shastri on The ICC Review show.
Sundar, who was picked more for his bowling as compared to Gill, and Nitish Kumar Reddy bowled a combined 27 overs in the Boxing Day Test across both innings, even as someone like Jasprit Bumrah bowled 28.4 in the first innings and 24.4 overs in the second innings.
Now with reports coming of Rohit Sharma rested for Sydney Test, expect Gill to slot back into the playing eleven. “There has to be an extremely valid reason, to tell him that, ‘you are sitting out’.”
“If you are talking balance of the team, we are playing an extra bowler, then give that bowler bowling. If he is not bowling enough, then why are you keeping a player like him out? It's an area that demands scrutiny as to how you can keep a player like that out,” concluded Shastri.
--IANS
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