Young opener Shubman Gill has not had the best of outings on India’s ongoing tour of the West Indies. But former India opener Abhinav Mukund believes the right-handed batter’s lean returns on the trip to Caribbean till now, are not a cause for concern.
After Gill got the Orange Cap award for being the leading run-scorer in IPL 2023 with 890 runs, he has been in lean patch in international cricket. He scored 13 and 18 against Australia at The Oval in the World Test Championship final, followed by recording scores of six, 10 and 29 not out in Tests against the West Indies as a number three batter.
In the ODI series opener at Kensington Oval, Gill was back to opening, but made only seven off 16 balls in a meagre chase of 115.
“I think it’s too early to talk about Shubman Gill’s failure because he has had a phenomenal last couple of years. It is important as a viewer and as an Indian cricket fan to not mess up formats.
I feel we always tend to mix up formats and we tend to drop here and there, and we tend to associate form concerned with certain formats. The Test format is done with. As far as ODIs are concerned, Shubman Gill is our top player, and I think he should go to the World Cup. I don’t think his form is a concern. I’m sure he’ll be back with a bang,” Mukund was quoted as saying by JioCinema.
Asked if India could make changes to their playing eleven for the second ODI, Mukund said, “No, I don’t see India making any changes to the playing XI primarily because they have handed a debut to Mukesh Kumar and also given him the new ball. Hardik Pandya and Mukesh Kumar will open the bowling in this series.”
“They tried out Hardik with the new ball for just the second time in ODIs and more so the batting order was also tinkered around a little bit. As far as bowling is concerned, I don’t see them making any changes because I know Chahal (Yuzvendra) will be getting a game at some point,” he said.
However, Nikhil Chopra, the former India player, feels the visitors’ could make changes to their spin bowling line-up for the second ODI.
“The only change that I feel can happen is in the spin department as both Axar Patel and Yuzi Chahal are sitting out. Ravindra Jadeja had a pretty good day on Thursday, with him getting three wickets and also scoring an unbeaten 16. So, if any changes are there then it’s in the spin department,” said Chopra.
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