Shubham Gill was among the most creative batsmen in year 2024 and was making the Number 3 spot his own, before he was left out to accommodate captain Rohit Sharma as an opener.
This Border-Gavaskar Trophy tour was started with plenty of promise for Shubham Gill. From being a No.3 who caught in two minds- whether blunt the new ball like his two predecessors did or to go on the offensive. But as he steps into a new year, the 25-year-old confronts doubt. For a batsman who volunteered to bat at No. 3, he now finds himself in a situation where he has been told he isn’t ‘dropped’ but has to be left out to work for the team combination.
If that isn’t sufficient, Shubham Gill also finds himself in a side in which, as per multiple sources, head coach Gautam Gambhir wanted a return to Cheteshwar Pujara – a player who is in the previous selection panel and team management headed by Ajit Agarkar moved on from in mid-2023. It is the last thing a player working towards owning a position would want and one that sums up the chaos in the Indian dressing room.
In the last ten years, role clarity is what set the India team apart in Tests. Even when Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid took over the reins from Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli, they harped on continuity. Gill finds himself in a peculiar place where the team management doesn’t seem to see him as a long term No.3, unless he sorts out his batting manual. One of the reason why when Gill-who started his career as an opener- wanted to move to No.3, the selectors and then team team management were happy to agree, with the belief that he would ultimately slot in at No. 4. was from the time Gill emerged on the scene, his starting trigger movement has made him vulnerable to deliveries that shape into him.
