Shubman Gill deserves a chance to play the last two Tests against Australia: Ravi Shastri
Former India coach Ravi Shastri wants the Indian team management to pick Shubman Gill in the remaining Border-Gavaskar Tests against Australia.
Shubman Gill deserves a chance to play the last two Tests vs Australia: Shastri (Reuters)
By India Today Web Desk: Former India coach Ravi Shastri believes that young opener Shubman Gill, who has been in red-hot form, should play the last two Tests against Australia ahead of KL Rahul.
Despite some impressive recent form against both red-ball and limited overs, Gill has been overlooked for India’s first two Tests against Australia, with selectors preferring more experienced options at the top of the batting order.
Gill scored his first Test century against Bangladesh in December and has already put his name on the radar of selectors with four white-ball centuries for his country this year, including a magnificent 208 in an ODI against New Zealand last month.
“He (Gill) is that good at the moment and whether he scores or doesn’t score, on form, on merit, he deserves a chance,” Shastri said in the most recent episode of The ICC Review.
“When you have a player that confident and then his performances of late and the way he’s batted – there’ll be a lot of players in that team thinking within themselves ‘How’s this guy not playing?’
“They must be thinking, to be honest, it’s like that, the dressing room. I know that dressing room. They’ll be feeling ‘Gee man, this guy is hot’.”
Shastri believes Gill will be recalled to India’s top order for the third Test, and he believes this will not disrupt the team balance too much as India aims for a series sweep and a spot in this year’s ICC World Test Championship final in June.
“Not at all. I mean, it’s straight up, It comes down to performance,” Shastri noted, when asked about how making changes to a winning team may affect chemistry.
“You stick it on the board. This is the performance. It’s a tough thing for a coach. I remember I had to do it many times, where you just sit down, and explain to the player, ‘This is what’s on the board, what do you think?’
“Sometimes a break for a player in those times is far better, because you can go away, work on his game and come back stronger. I remember in my tenure, in the first Test in England, Pujara was dropped and he came back with a hundred.
“KL Rahul was dropped in Australia in 2019 and came back strongly too.”
