Former India player turned commentator Aakash Chopra has commented that Shubman Gill’s repeated failures at the top of the order are raising questions. While stating that a vice-captain gets a longer rope usually, he also shared that Yashasvi Jaiswal, and not Gill, was India’s backup opener in the 2024 T20 World Cup.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “I will first talk about the Indian vice-captain Shubman Gill. In the last match, at least it seemed like he was desperate and got out while trying to run fast, but he couldn’t even open his account this time. Generally, a vice-captain gets a longer rope, but for how long?”
“This question will come because Shubman’s selection was also very interesting. When the 2024 T20 World Cup happened, if we talk about continuity and preference, Yashasvi Jaiswal was actually in that team. Then Yashasvi was left behind and Shubman Gill moved ahead. In between, Sanju Samson did well, but he too was kept out,” he added.
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“Obviously, there are questions, and you cannot hide those questions. You cannot even hide yourself from those questions. You cannot ignore them. He is the vice-captain for sure, and you want him to score runs and remain a part of the team’s core, but he will have to score runs in the next three games,” he again shared.
However, Aakash Chopra also said that Shubman Gill should be persisted with as an opener in the last three T20Is as well. However, he also claimed that the Indian Test and ODI captain needs to be among the runs as well.
“There are three more games, and I want him to play all three games, and as an opener. However, he needs to score runs in those three games, or else when you come against New Zealand, there will be a question that we haven’t sorted out our opening yet. So do you stick with him because he is the vice-captain or will you say Sanju should be played because he had been doing well? You don’t want to enter the World Cup in a neither-here-nor-there situation. The vice-captain needs to score runs. We are hearing it in a slightly repetitive mode,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
