India’s star batter Shubman Gill has been labeled as an “overrated cricketer” by former World Cup-winning cricketer Kris Srikkanth. The former India opener questioned Gill’s place in the squad and instead asked the selectors to pick Ruturaj Gaikwad and Sai Sudharsan.
Shubman Gill is currently India’s designated No. 3 batter in Test cricket. However, he failed miserably in the recently concluded Test series against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The talented batter couldn’t even cross the 40-run mark in the five innings he played during the series. His poor returns have questioned his place in the team and there have been calls for him to be dropped completely from the Test team.
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Shubman Gill labeled as an “overrated cricketer”
While speaking on his YouTube channel, Kris Srikkanth opened up on his views on Shubman Gill’s place in the Indian Test team. Srikkanth was severe in his criticism and even labeled Gill as an “overrated cricketer”.
“I’ve always maintained that Shubman Gill is an overrated cricketer but nobody listened to me. He is a highly overrated cricketer,” Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel.
The former India captain further questioned the decision to give Gill a longer rope despite his underwhelming performances. He also questioned why Suryakumar Yadav was dropped after just a solitary Test match.
“When Gill is getting this much of a long rope, some people might wonder whether even players like Suryakumar Yadav could have been given a longer rope in Tests,” Srikkant argued.
“Suryakumar didn’t have a very good start in Tests but he has the technique and he has the ability. But the selectors and the management have now boxed him into a white-ball specialist. So that means you have to look at fresh talent,” he added.
Suryakumar Yadav has played just one Test in his career, against Australia in 2023 in Nagpur. He scored just 8 runs in the only innings he batted but India went on to win the match by an innings and 32 runs.
Kris Srikkanth backs Ruturaj Gaikwad and Sai Sudharsan
While Kris Srikkanth was severe on Shubman Gill’s place in the team, he also wants players like Ruturaj Gaikwad and Sai Sudharsan to be given a chance to stake a claim in India’s Test team.
“Ruturaj Gaikwad, for example, has been doing wonderfully in first-class cricket. But they’ve not bothered to pick him. Meanwhile, someone like a Sai Sudharsan has been lighting it up in ‘A’ tours. You have to promote these kind of talents. Instead they are running around circles by picking Gill,” Srikkanth observed.
The former India batter also questioned Shubman Gill’s performances outside Asia. He claimed that Gill has been inconsistent with his batting performances and he is unable to play on helpful bowling conditions outside India.
“(Shubman) Gill is right now surviving because he gets ten chances and scores on the tenth chance after nine failures. And because of that, he is getting another ten chances to succeed,” Srikkanth noted.
“Anyone and everyone can amass runs on Indian wickets, The challenge is scoring away from home in SENA countries and that’s where players like KL Rahul pass the test,” he added.
Shubman Gill’s decline outside Asia
Shubman Gill scored 93 runs in three Tests at an average of 18.60 in the recent Test series against Australia. He registered scores of 13, 20, 1, 28, and 31. He had a good start to his Test career as he was impressive in the last Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia.
Gill scored a crucial 91 in India’s historic win at Gabba. However, he has struggled to score runs outside Asia since then. Gill averages just 17.64 across the 18 Test innings since that series.
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