India's Former Captain Slams Shubman Gill Over His Performance, “Highly overrated”
Team India's former captain and chief selector Kris Srikkanth criticised young Indian better Shubman Gill over his poor performance outside Asia and said he is a “Highly overrated cricketer”
Srikkanth also questions why the selection committee keep giving chances despite there being other batters who can take that role. Despite continuous support from the team management and the selection committee, he has not been able to perform, raising questions about his selection for the big matches and series.
In the recent series against Australia, players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Shubman Gill didn't perform well, which cost India a prestigious Border Gavaskar trophy. Nitish Reddy, KL Rahul, and Rishab scored runs in patches, but the collective batting collapse in most of the innings resulted in a 3-1 score. The only batter who performed consistently in the series was Yashasvi Jaiswal, which raised questions about why the other players are not getting chances when the current players are not performing.
Gil has scored runs with a low average of 17.64 in 18 innings since his debut in the last Border-Gavaskar trophy(2020-21). In the recent Border Gavaskar trophy, Gill couldn't even score higher than 40 in any innings; 13, 20, 1, 28, and 31 was his score in the series. Srikkanth made the same point by criticising Gill on his YouTube channel.
"I've always maintained that Shubman Gill is an overrated cricketer, but nobody listened to me. He is a highly overrated cricketer,”
He even questioned why other players were not given chances, like Surya Kumar Yadav, who was given only one chance in the Nagpur test against Australia and was then dropped from the team.
"When Gill is getting such a long rope, some people might wonder why even players like Suryakumar Yadav couldn't have been given a longer run in Tests,”
“Suryakumar didn't have the best start in Tests, but he has the technique and ability. Yet, the selectors and management have boxed him into being a white-ball specialist. So now, fresh talent needs to be looked at.”
"Ruturaj Gaikwad, for instance, has been performing brilliantly in first-class cricket, but he hasn't been picked. Similarly, Sai Sudharsan has been outstanding on 'A' tours. These are the players who should be promoted. Instead, the selectors are stuck in a loop with Gill," Srikkanth said.
“Gill is surviving because he gets ten chances and scores on the tenth after nine failures. That keeps him in contention for another ten chances. Anyone can score runs on Indian wickets, but the real challenge is performing in overseas conditions, particularly in SENA countries. That's where players like KL Rahul have proven themselves.”