Shubman Gill’s Australia tour hasn’t gone to plan. In the ODI series, he scored 43 runs in the 3-match series. Come the T20Is, the Indian Test captain looked in good touch. He scored an unbeaten 37 from 20 in Canberra, but rain stopped the match after just 9.4 overs were bowled.
However, his poor form returned. Gill scored 5 from 10 in Melbourne and 15 from 12 in Hobart. Come the India vs Australia 4th T20I, the vice-captain had to show why he was persisted with by the management as India’s second-choice opener, ahead of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sanju Samson.
Shubman Gill’s struggles in 4th T20I
Although Gill managed to get his highest score of the Australia white-ball tour, the innings has actually done more harm than good. The decision to bring Gill back into the T20I was a questionable one to begin with. The management had to break Abhishek Sharma and Samson’s successful opening partnership.
Since returning, Gill has crossed the 30-run mark just twice and has yet to score a fifty. His strike rate hasn’t been impressive either. But at the Carrara Oval in Queensland, Gill was perhaps at his worst. On a pitch where batting wasn’t easy, he struggled big time.
India’s top three couldn’t get going at all as the ball wasn’t coming off the bat. Abhishek ended up scoring 28 from 21. Shivam Dube did worse, scoring 22 from 18. But Gill’s knock was atrocious. He played 1/3 of the total balls, 39, and scored just 46 runs. He struggled against pacers and even spinners.
India’s top 3 in Queensland
| Batter | Score | Strike Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Abhishek Sharma | 28 (21) | 133.33 |
| Shubman Gill | 46 (39) | 117.95 |
| Shivam Dube | 22 (18) | 122.22 |
Lack of intent
But the biggest was intent. More often than not, Gill was looking to rotate the strike instead of putting his foot on the paddle. When Abhishek retired, he should have started to accelerate, but he didn’t. When Dube got out and captain Suryakumar Yadav came in, he tried to get going, but it didn’t happen.
It wasn’t that Gill played a bad knock; that wasn’t the issue. There are times when batters can’t get going. The issue with Gill was intent. He wasn’t going hard enough. In the current T20I setup, you have such explosive batters in the team and others waiting for a turn.
You can’t replace someone like Samson and bench Jaiswal for the replacement to knock it around and hope to recover at the backend. India has seen where that road leads. The 2021 and 2022 editions of the T20 World Cup were lost because of that approach. Either Gill has to start attacking more, or India has to make way for someone else.
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