Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri feels Shubman Gill deserves a chance to play the last two Test matches against Australia. Gill has been in dream form in the limited-overs formats and scored heavy runs in the recent series against Sri Lanka and New Zealand.
Gill scored 207 runs in three ODIs against Sri Lanka whereas he amassed 360 runs in three ODIs against the Kiwis. Furthermore, he scored 144 runs in three T20Is against the Blackcaps. However, KL Rahul was preferred ahead of him in the first two Test matches against Australia in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar series.
But Rahul could not grab his opportunity at the top of the order as he has returned with scores of 20, 17, and 1 in the three innings he has played. With an in-form Shubman Gill waiting in the wings, Shastri feels it is time for the youngster to get his deserved chance.
“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’.”
When asked if making a change to the winning combination will affect the team’s chemistry, Shastri said, “Not at all. I mean, it’s straight up, It comes down to performance.”
Shastri reckons a break from the game will do a world of good to KL Rahul and he can come back strongly after working on his game.
“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.”
The third Test match between India and Australia begins on Wednesday in Indore.
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