One more innings and one more low score. Shubnam Gill continues to disappoint. He is prodigiously talented. He has got all the shots in the book and not really troubled by fast bowling or spinners. Yet, Shubnam Gill continues to disappoint. He has been given chances, though, sporadically. Chances that others would love to get. Yet, Shubnam Gill continues to disappoint. If Rohit Sharma wasn’t injured, Gill would not have been part of the eleven. The middle order slot is filled by Pujara, Kohli and Shreyas Iyer. Gill must have ideally grabbed this opportunity with both the hands and must have forced the selectors to consider him for all the games irrespective of who else is playing.
Has he got the temperament to succeed at the highest level? That is a huge question mark. This was his 12th test. Though he has four scores of more than 50, he is yet to score a hundred. It is not a cause for concern. He will surely get there oneday but what is of greater concern is that apart from that initial series in Australia, he hasn’t done his obvious talent the justice it commands. He has wasted most of the chances given to him.
When Rohit is back, Gill will be out
With the return of Rohit Sharma, Gill will again find himself on the sideline. He must have been aware of that fact but what makes his failure more worrying is that he didn’t even force the hand of the team management to think before dropping him. Now, it will be straight and easy swap once either Rohit is back. A 100 would have put the team management in a dilemma. Gill has only made their task easy.
Perhaps, he must be sent back to Ranji Trophy for a couple of years and rid himself of the T20 game.
Gill will not be able to get a much easier opponent than Bangladesh. Not only that, he got to make use of the pitch when it will be at its best for batting. First day, first morning. Asian pitches are not expected to carry pace and bounce and the overhead conditions will not help swing bowling either. The pitches crumble as the game goes on and day one will always be good for batting. What did Gill do? Well, practically, nothing. He will get few more chances in this series and he will have to make them count.
Lots of options
There is stiff competition for the opener’s slot. Yashasvi Jaiswal, Yash Dhull, Prithvi Shaw and not to mention the Rahul who despite his lack of performance will be elevated as the captain once Rohit retires or the captaincy is changed. Mayank Agarwal can come back into reckoning with a good Ranji season. So, there are more than enough players and it is imperative for Gill to grab his chances.
As to what will happen if he doesn’t get consistent scores can be known from where Mayank Agarwal is now. He had an extraordinary 2019. A couple of double hundreds and an average of more than 70 for the whole year. Everyone were under the impression that India after a long wait have finally found an opener for the longhaul. A couple of years down the line, after a miserable Australian tour, he find himself out of the squad itself. If a batsman who has scored 4 hundreds and averages higher than Gill can be dropped, what chances does Gill have? This is something he must understand. He just cannot survive on talent alone.
Wrapping up Shubnam Gill continues to disappoint
A batsman with Gill’s brilliance must be wasted. He is a precious jewel who if trained properly, will return the efforts with loads of runs. Perhaps, a stint in the middle order will do him good. Afterall, India are searching for good and solid middle order batsmen after the sacking of Rahane and Pujara. Gill might just fit that bill.