Shubman Gill’s talent has never been in question since he burst onto the scene in 2020 in the red-ball format. He blitzed with a 91 at the Gabba in his second Test, showing promise for long-term success in the format. But it did not manifest as the more conditions he got exposed to overseas, the more bowlers started to exploit him around the off-stump channel with the incoming delivery, which has affected his performances.
With retiring from the format, there have been reports circulating about Gill taking the reins, while there have been few in the yay category in favour of Gill, there also have been a few in the nay category, pointing at his ordinary record outside India.
“You people will talk he’s not scored runs overseas. You know, that topic always comes, not scored runs overseas. Sometimes I tell them, go and see your own record, how much have you done overseas?” Ravi Shastri said on The ICC review Show. “Overseas, overseas, let him play, let him get a run overseas, then he’ll score runs. He’s a class player. He has a decade of cricket ahead of him for the country. And I’m sure he’ll get cracking in one of the tours, he’ll make up for all those runs he’s not got on earlier.”
“You groom somebody and I would say Shubman’s looked very good. Give him the opportunity. He’s 25, 26 years of age, even give him time. There’s Rishabh as well. I think these two are the obvious ones I’m looking at because of their age and they have a decade ahead of them. So, let them learn,” said Shastri. Both Pant and Gill have been captaining their respective Indian Premier League franchises for a while. “They’ve got experience as captains, now, captaining their franchise, and that makes a difference,” Shastri noted. “The little I’ve seen of Shubman looks very interesting. Composed, calm, he has all the qualities.”
