Former India coach Ravi Shastri believes that young opener Shubman Gill, who has been in red-hot form, should play the last two Tests against Australia ahead of KL Rahul.
Despite some impressive recent form against both red-ball and limited overs, Gill has been overlooked for India’s first two Tests against Australia, with selectors preferring more experienced options at the top of the batting order.
Gill scored his first Test century against Bangladesh in December and has already put his name on the radar of selectors with four white-ball centuries for his country this year, including a magnificent 208 in an ODI against New Zealand last month.
“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’.”
Shastri believes Gill will be recalled to India’s top order for the third Test, and he believes this will not disrupt the team balance too much as India aims for a series sweep and a spot in this year’s ICC World Test Championship final in June.
“Not at all. I mean, it’s straight up, It comes down to performance,” Shastri noted, when asked about how making changes to a winning team may affect chemistry.
