With the series tied 1-1 ahead of the fourth Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, India sprung a surprise on Boxing Day when captain Rohit Sharma announced his return to the top order and lost No.3 batsman Shubman Gill. Dropped out of his place in the XI on Thursday.
Gill, who scored 31 and 28 runs in the pink ball Test in Adelaide, took 1 wicket in the previous match in Brisbane. Gill’s position came under the scanner after skipper Sharma opted to return to the top order, without hitting a half-century outside Asia since Australia’s last tour in 2020-21. This means that in-form opener KL Rahul will pair Rohit with Yashasvi Jaiswal and drop three places. Gill eventually gave his place in the team to all-rounder Washington Sundar, drafted in as the second spinner after Ravindra Jadeja.
India assistant coach Abhishek Nair said Gill’s string of low scores was not the primary concern for the snap ahead of what is expected to be his 100th international appearance.
“Unfortunately for Gill, he had to miss out because of how things ended,” Nair told reporters after stumps on day one.
“He understands that this is the need of the team. It’s unfortunate. I don’t want to say Gill himself was left out, it was unfortunate that he didn’t get his place in the XI in this game.
Nair emphasized that the management has evaluated the extra spinner in Sundar after looking at the condition of the pitch. Sundar bowled 12 overs on the first day and dismissed Marnus Labuschagne (72) for a good set as Australia scored 311 for six. “We felt watching this pitch that Washington Sundar gives us that difference in the bowling attack, especially with the old ball. So against players like Travis Head and Alex Carey who are playing lower-order runs, we felt it would be good for us to have an office in the ranks,” Nair said. . “The thought process was not to strengthen the batting. If there was more emphasis on batting, we would have kept Shubman (Gill) in the team,’ said Nair.
‘boot out’
Former Australian batsman Mark Waugh was surprised by India’s decision to drop Gill, who was unable to play the series opener in Perth due to injury.
“When Shubman Gill injured his finger, they were keen to bring him in, and now they have booted him out, and wanted more bowling options. Both Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy can bowl and Gill can’t,” Waugh said in the commentary. .
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