'I feel sad for Shubman': Former India opener says Gill has fallen in pecking order for top spot

Shubman Gill was not selected for the ODI series against Bangladesh.

It is safe to say that Shubman Gill's short career in ODI cricket has been a stellar one. The 23-year-old has scored 687 runs in 15 matches at an average of 57.25 with one century and four half centuries. However, Gill was not selected in India's recently concluded ODI series against Bangladesh, with captain Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan being India's preferred openers.

Gill was India's second highest scorer in their series against New Zealand. (AP)

Now, former India opener Wasim Jaffer has said that Gill may have fallen further in the pecking order for the No.1 and No.2 spots in the Indian batting lineup due to Ishan Kishan's sensational double century. An injury to Rohit in the second ODI had led to Ishan taking his place at the top of the order with Dhawan for the third ODI against Bangladesh. Ishan ended up scoring his first international century and then went on to become the first player to convert a maiden ODI ton to a double hundred. He made a score of 210 off 131 balls, thus helping India to a 227-run win.

“Ishan Kishan obviously puts himself ahead of Shubman Gill now. I feel a little bit sad for Gill, he was the frontrunner before this innings. He was the third opener in the line after Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan and now he will be in fourth spot. Sometimes you will feel why Gill is not in the squad, there is nothing wrong that he did,” said Jaffer.

Gill had scored 108 runs in India's three-match ODI series against New Zealand last month, despite both the second and third ODIs being washed out. “He did really well in New Zealand and with whatever other opportunities he got. But we have seen in the recent past that a few players miss out and get dropped and this is now going to put them in another dilemma. Who is their third and fourth openers and what to do with Shikhar Dhawan. He is the senior opener and he has had a bad series. They would like to back him due to the kind of record he has. That No.3 and No.4 options for openers will be a question mark,” he said.

Jaffer also said that the aggressive approach of the newer generation of Indian batters is refreshing. “We have seen that with the likes of Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav and Shubman Gill as well. Once they feel they are in, they just go after the bowling irrespective of the format which is very refreshing when it comes off. In 50-over cricket you debate when you get out after in the 25th or 30th over that there was still plenty of overs left to play. Here as well, even though they scored 400-plus, Washington and Shardul were batting for those last few overs. But this new breed of batters, they go after the bowling irrespective of the format and it is a good thing to see. When it comes off it puts a lot of pressure on the bowlers and puts runs on the board,” he said.