‘I think Shubman Gill has done an injustice to his talent..’ – Former Pakistan skipper makes harsh remark on India’s young batting sensation

Shubman Gill emerged as a notable performer in the initial half of 2023, but the latter part didn’t unfold as he might have anticipated. Following his inaugural Test century against Bangladesh in December 2022, Gill continued to excel in the early months of 2023. In January, against New Zealand, the Punjab batter achieved his first ODI double-century. In the very next year, the India opener also scored his maiden T20I century. Setting new records, Gill demonstrated why he is considered one of the future superstars in world cricket.

But in the World Cup 2023, the star batter had a moderate outing. Even in the final Gill played an unnecessary shot and lost his wicket. After that, he has not been able to replicate the form that he showed in the early months of 2023. Now, the former Pakistan captain Salman Butt commented that Gill has not lived up to expectations and elucidated on what he must do to achieve success.

“I think Shubman Gill has done an injustice to his talent in the last few games. He is too good a player and has too much skill for the kind of hurry that he has been showing. He scores 20-odd and then plays a loose shot. This is what he wasn’t doing when he had a successful year. He just needs to bat and bat without doing anything special. He needs to realize that even if you are the best batter in the world, you can’t play every ball on your own terms. You have to react to the ball instead of dictating it,” Butt was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

Gill had not been in his prime in T20Is

Throughout the year, Gill displayed impressive consistency in the ODI format, but his performances in T20Is and Tests fell short of his potential. Following the T20Is against New Zealand, Gill’s subsequent involvement in the shortest format for India was during the Caribbean series. Across five matches, he managed only 102 runs, with 77 of them scored in a single innings. Rested for the T20I series against Australia, Gill recorded scores of 0 and 8 in the two T20Is he participated in South Africa last month.

Nevertheless, he made a comeback to the team for the ongoing T20I series against Afghanistan. In the initial T20I, he crafted a delightful 12-ball 23 but was later omitted, with Yashasvi Jaiswal chosen for the second game. It will be interesting to see if he gets a go in the third T20I against Afghanistan.