Is Shubman Gill a poor fit for India’s T20I squad?

Shubman Gill is considered one of the most promising young batters from the Indian team, who can carry forward the legacy of great Indian players like Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar. The 24-year-old Punjab-born batter has been in sensational form, especially in ODIs and the red-ball format, with averages of 58 and 37, respectively. Despite this, when the squad for the 3-match T20I series was announced, the star batter failed to secure his place, despite being the leading run-scorer in the last T20I series against Zimbabwe, where he captained the team. 

This omission has sparked discussions about Gill’s place in India’s T20I squad as an opening batter. It could be due to his relatively low strike rate compared to other batsmen like Yashasvi Jaiswal and Abhishek Sharma, who dominate with their hard-hitting abilities in the shorter format.

Moreover, Gill’s non-inclusion in the squad could be a strategic decision by the BCCI and team management, considering India’s busy Test schedule, with series against New Zealand and then Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Since Gill has been playing in all three formats for the Indian team, he might have been rested from the series for workload management.

It would not be wrong to say that after winning the T20 World Cup, the Indian team management is focusing on grooming young players in the T20 format, especially following the retirement of three legendary players: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Ravindra Jadeja. The game has evolved over the years, with players adopting different mindsets and skills, while still having orthodox shots in their repertoire. Shubman Gill’s low strike rate could be a concern for the Indian team, which now features a young lineup with hard-hitting batters like Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, and explosive top-order players like Abhishek Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Looking into this, let’s compare Shubman Gill’s T20I numbers with openers like Yashasvi Jaiswal and Abhishek Sharma.

Shubman Gill has played a total of 21 games for the Indian national team, scoring 578 runs with a strike rate of 139. Additionally, the right-handed batter has 1 hundred to his name.

On the other hand, southpaw batter Yashasvi Jaiswal has played a similar number of games for the Men in Blue, scoring 723 runs in 23 matches with a strike rate of 164, also having 1 hundred to his name. Apart from Jaiswal and Gill, another Indian opener who has become the talk of the town after his brilliant performance in the last edition of the Indian Premier League is Abhishek Sharma, who was among the leading run-scorers for the Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise.

Abhishek Sharma has just begun his international career following India’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup win against Zimbabwe, where he surprised everyone with his six-hitting ability, scoring his first T20I hundred in just his second game. The young Indian batter has played a total of 5 games for the national team, scoring 124 runs with an impressive strike rate of over 170. Looking at these numbers and statistics, it can be said that Shubman Gill needs to improve his strike rate to secure a place in India’s T20I squad.

While Gill is not part of the squad, both Jaiswal and Abhishek Sharma are included in the team for the 3-match T20I series against Bangladesh.

India’s Squad for the 3-match T20I series vs Bangladesh:

Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Riyan Parag, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Mayank Yadav.