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India pay heavy price in push to make Shubman Gill poster-boy of this generation; Sanju Samson collateral damage
Shubman Gill has struggled in T20Is after his return, averaging 21.92 in 15 innings since September. Did the decision makers bite more than they could chew?
Haste makes waste. It’s one of those old-fashioned, old-world adages that means exactly what it says – don’t rush into things without thought and logic, because the consequences can be disastrous.
‘Disaster’ is perhaps too strong a word to describe Shubman Gill’s comeback to international 20-over cricket, but there is no denying the fact that the new face of Indian cricket is struggling to justify his recall to the shortest format after 13 and a half months on the outer. In their overwhelming desire to anoint the eminently marketable 26-year-old as the new face of Indian cricket, the decision-makers who have the greatest say in selection matters might have sold themselves, Gill and Indian cricket short – and not necessarily in that order.
Every generation needs a rallying force, a leader around whom the core revolves. Historically, Indian cricket has been fortunate to unearth such unifying entities. In the last two decades alone – and even before that, there are numerous examples – the poster boys have been Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, in that chronological order. Gill is now the chosen one, but those in the corridors of power seem to have bitten off more than they can chew.
Thursday’s first-ball duck in the second of five Twenty20 Internationals against South Africa in New Chandigarh was the latest of Gill’s misadventures in country vs country T20s. Since being brought back into the T20 firmament in September, Gill has been a singular disappointment. Fifteen innings in three different countries against seven teams have produced a measly 263 runs at an average of 21.92; his strike-rate of 115.56 is less than acceptable but most worryingly, Gill hasn’t looked the part.
Form, they say, is temporary and class is permanent, and there is no disputing another of those long-standing truisms. Which is precisely why Gill’s terrible T20 form is hard to explain. During this period, he has amassed runs in Test cricket, at No. 4, but his limited-overs record has left a lot to be desired. Admittedly, he has only figured in three One-Day Internationals, but those have produced a meagre 43 runs with a highest of 24 in Australia, where he announced himself as one for the future with polished efforts of 45 and 35 not out during India’s wonderful victory at the MCG in December 2020.
Gill was ‘rested’ from the T20 format after the tour of Sri Lanka in July 2024, in Gautam Gambhir’s first outing as the new head coach. But once Rohit announced his retirement from Test cricket this May, the right-hander from Punjab was identified as the man to take the national team into the future. Dramatically, he was appointed the Test captain; within months, the same status was conferred on him in the 50-over setup while in the T20 iteration, he was brought back as Suryakumar Yadav’s deputy. The message was loud and clear – it was only a matter of time before Gill became the all-format skipper, following in the footsteps of Dhoni, Kohli and Rohit.
Gill’s return to the T20 version came at a heavy cost, with the successful opening tandem of Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson split to accommodate the captain-in-waiting. Samson was shunted down the order before being omitted from the XI altogether, collateral damage in the push to make Gill the pre-eminent cricketer of his generation. Apart from a string of failures against England at home in January, Samson had done precious little wrong; indeed, in 33 days in October-November last year, he smashed three T20I hundreds in five innings but forced to bat out off position so that Gill could be accommodated at the top of the order, he floundered and failed to such an extent that he surrendered his place to Jitesh Sharma. If the senior batter from Kerala feels hard done by, it isn’t without justification, and particularly so given that Gill has shown no signs of justifying the undiluted show of faith from Gambhir and chief selector Ajit Agarkar.
How does the management group handle this Gill conundrum, considering they have placed all their eggs in his basket? It's no secret that there clearly are different yardsticks for different players within the Indian cricketing firmament. The levels of patience vary depending on who the flavour of the season is and Gill, indisputably, is the most overwhelming current flavour. But by saddling him with so much responsibility (burden?) so quickly, no one is doing him any favours. Gill has been constantly on the move since the Test series in England in the summer, and has himself admitted to mental fatigue more than physical tiredness. It’s possible that the neck spasms that kept him out of action for nearly four weeks from the second week of November are a consequence of constant travel and one high-stakes game after another compressed in a very limited timeframe.
Gill is too skilled not to shed this lean trot sooner rather than later, but are India doing the right thing by him? And by the team? To paraphrase Gambhir, those are questions 140 crore Indians are awaiting answers to.
