Not part of the ODI leg of India’s tour of South Africa 2023-24, Indian batter Shubman Gill is one of the 12 players who represented the country in the recently concluded ICC Cricket World Cup but have been rested for the subsequent three-match ODI series.
Advertisement
While a section of fans considers this move by the selection committee beneficial for players, another one is left pondering around the amount of sense in tinkering with a well-set combination. Shubman Gang, a verified X (formerly Twitter) handle posing as Gill’s fan page, has come down strongly on the selectors for not including the 24-year-old player in the ODI squad.
Not able to fathom the concept of resting players to manage their workloads, Shubman Gang accused the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) of ruining Indian cricket on the back of a “bizarre rest culture”.
“This bizzare rest culture by BCCI in Dravid era has ruined Indian cricket, earlier superfit Virat Kohli was also rested alot on the name of experiment and now young Shubman Gill is rested for no reason in ODIs, these rests don’t make sense when a batsman is in form and superfit,” read a post on X.
Wanting to rest on purpose, India captain Rohit Sharma and his predecessor Virat Kohli haven’t been named in either of the two white-ball squads. Called Prince to King Kohli by fans, more parallels have been drawn between the two in terms of a fully fit latter has also been rested time and again by the selectors lately.
Meanwhile, top-order batters namely Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajat Patidar and Sai Sudarsan have benefitted in Gill’s absence. A rest for the right-handed batter, however, isn’t a poor call.
With Gill having already cemented his ODI spot, the Indian team can do without him especially in the lack of many ODIs till ICC T20 World Cup 2024. Since the main focus is on T20Is and Tests at the moment, the right-handed batter is part of both of those squads. Technically, Gill won’t be resting at the time of the ODI series. Readers must note that he will be taking part in India’s intra-squad match in order to prepare for a two-match Test series.
Shubman Gill Was On The Verge Of Surpassing Legendary Indian Trio
Shubman Gill, who has scored four ODI centuries at home this year, most by an Indian batter in a calendar year, broke the record of Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar (1996), Sharma (2017) and Kohli (2017), each one of whom had registered three centuries previously. Fastest batter to complete 2,000 ODI runs, Gill has also broken Tendulkar’s record of scoring most ODI runs at home in a calendar year.
Additionally, Gill’s 1,584 ODI runs in 2023 has already powered him in outperforming both Kohli and Rohit in terms of scoring most runs in a calendar year. Had he been allowed to bat thrice later this month, he could’ve surpassed a legendary Indian trio comprising Tendulkar (1,611 runs in 1996 & 1,894 in 1998), Sourav Ganguly (1,767 in 1999) and Rahul Dravid (1,761 in 1999) as well.
Even though scoring 311 runs across three innings in South Africa to break Tendulkar’s record would’ve been no mean task, loyal fans have the leeway of giving thoughts to individual milestones.
Slated to resume the No. 3 role in the Test series, Gill would be aiming to become the third Indian batter in the given position to score a Test century in South Africa. Only former India captain and current head coach Rahul Dravid and veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara have achieved this feat in the past. Overall, a total of 11 Indian batters have been able to score a Test hundred in South Africa till now.
