Former Indian cricketer Wasim Jaffer said that he’s a little bit sad over Shubman Gill’s place in the Indian team. He feels that the right-hander was the front-runner for the opener’s spot but Ishan Kishan’s double century has put him behind the southpaw in the pecking order.
“Ishan Kishan obviously puts himself ahead of Shubman Gill now,” says Wasim Jaffer
The selection dilemma is getting worse for the Indian Cricket Team at the top of the order. With regular opener Shikhar Dhawan failing to deliver, clouds have started hovering over his place in the side. On the other hand, Shubman Gill has been performing so consistently for the side.
Ever since Shubman Gill has been in the ODI setup, he has been in top-notch form. The right-hander has set to stage on fire ever since he opened the innings for India in the 50-over format. The Punjab batter has been performing consistently and has been giving his team a fiery start.
Gill has the highest average by an Indian batter in ODI in 2022 with 72.5. Overall in 14 innings, he has 674 runs at an average of 61.27 and 100.45 strike rate to go with 4 fifties and 1 century. With the way he’s batting, it’s fair to say that he will be in contention for the opener’s spot.
Dinesh Karthik said, "Shubman Gill has been doing so well. If Rohit Sharma is available for the Sri Lankan series, somebody like Shikhar Dhawan might miss out. That could be a sad end to a glorious career". (To Cricbuzz).
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) December 11, 2022
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But now Ishan Kishan too has put his hand up for the opening spot after his heroics in the recently concluded third ODI against Bangladesh. Opening the innings, he came out all guns blazing and smashed the bowlers all over the park. He smashed 210 runs in just 131 balls with the help of 24 fours and 10 sixes.
The left-hander holds the record for the fastest double-century in ODIs. With his knock, he also achieved the highest individual score for India against Bangladesh in ODIs and also the highest by any batter in the country. With the kind of innings he played, it’ll extremely difficult for selectors to ignore him.
Wasim Jaffer, however, feels that Kishan has put himself ahead of Shubman Gill, who in turn will be in the fourth spot as the opener. Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, he said:
“Ishan Kishan obviously puts himself ahead of Shubman Gill now. I feel a little bit sad for Gill, he was the frontrunner before this innings. He was the third opener in the line after Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan and now he will be in the fourth spot. Sometimes you will feel why Gill is not in the squad, there is nothing wrong that he did.”
“He did really well in New Zealand and with whatever other opportunities he got. But we have seen in the recent past that a few players miss out and get dropped and this is now going to put them in another dilemma.
“Team would like to back him due to the kind of record he has,” Wasim Jaffer on Shikhar Dhawan
Shikhar Dhawan has struggled to get going of late in the ODIs. He had a poor outing in three games against Bangladesh as he amassed 18 runs. He has been poor in the format this year as well as in 22 ODIs he has 688 runs at an avg of 34.4 and an SR of 74.21 with a dot ball percentage of 60. His average in powerplay overs 1-10 also has been underwhelming at 32.9 and his strike rate is just 66.9 this year.
But despite his record being poor, Jaffer feels that team will back Dhawan because of his experience. He added.
“Who is their third and fourth openers and what to do with Shikhar Dhawan. He is the senior opener and he has had a bad series. They would like to back him due to the kind of record he has. That No.3 and No.4 options for openers will be a question mark,.”
Notably, Dhawan has played 167 ODIs and has 6793 runs to his name. With the amount of experience he has, it is likely that he will be given few more games before a call on his future is taken.
I cannot put into words what I’m feeling right now but I’ll try. I’m overwhelmed by the love, the messages, the wishes. This is an innings that will stay in my heart forever, a day that I won’t forget, and these moments that I’ll always carry with me. Thank you for everything 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/xlNzuWxA4w
— Ishan Kishan (@ishankishan51) December 10, 2022
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