Veteran India player turned commentator Aakash Chopra has said that Shubman Gill has been going through a prolonged lean patch in Tests outside Asia. He also added that his numbers are a concern, considering he currently occupies the crucial No. 3 position in India’s lineup as well. Notably, Gill was dismissed for one as India were reduced to 51/4 in their first innings of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 third Test in Brisbane on Monday, December 16. India had bowled Australia out for 445 earlier on Day 3 as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra’, he said, “We will have to talk about Shubman Gill. It’s been 16 innings where you haven’t crossed 40 outside Asia. You have been dismissed for single digits or early double digits many times. If your scores are like this and you bat at No. 3 for Team India in Test cricket, it’s a problem, and it will be discussed as well.”
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“He was looking good in the last match. The problem is not with Gill alone. It’s a symptomatic problem of the entire playing style. Yashasvi Jaiswal drove the first ball hard. He might be unlucky that his shot found a fielder on the second ball, but the first ball could have also gone to gully’s hand. Shubman Gill came and played a booming drive. When it comes off, it looks good, but there are great chances of it going behind the wickets. You are so used to throwing your hands that you don’t wish to stop,” he further added.
In the same video, Aakash Chopra also stated that Shubman Gill’s tendency to play with his hands away from the body led to his dismissals in Adelaide and Brisbane Tests as well.
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“The modes of dismissals, whether it was the incoming ball in the pink-ball game that hit his stumps, there also you played away from the body, and here also you played away from the body. This is a white-ball symptom and it is troubling everyone, including Shubman Gill. If we are saying that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are on their way out, their best is behind and not ahead of them, it’s going to be a problem if the next generation, which includes Yashasvi and Shubman Gill, doesn’t score runs,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
