Shubman Gill has had a disappointing outing across all formats on the tour of West Indies so far.
India may have registered Test and ODI series wins in the ongoing tour of West Indies, but a major worrying sign for the side is opener Shubman Gill’s form throughout the tour. Barring the third ODI of the series where the young opener made 85, Shubman has had a forgettable outing against the Windies, with scores of 6, 10, and 29* in Tests, and 7 and 34 in the first two ODIs. Moreover, the opener has failed to breach double digits in T20Is so far. With the ODI World Cup inching closer, Shubman’s lack of run-scoring is becoming a cause of concern for the team management and former India opener Aakash Chopra believes it could be a blow to the side if the player doesn’t regain the form soon.
Interestingly, Shubman was in brilliant touch in the 2023 Indian Premier League, where he was also the Orange Cap winner as his prolific batting performances aided Gujarat Titans to the final. However, the downward-spiral in the batter’s form began when India returned to action in the World Test Championship, where his 13 and 18 across two innings against Australia drew criticism.
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Chopra narrated on Shubman’s poor outings in the West Indies and also suggested a way for the batter to return to run-scoring.
“At this point in time, the problem is with Shubman Gill’s form. During the IPL, I read in many places that he is no longer the prince but the king. But after that, there was the WTC final, he didn’t score too many runs there, played two Test matches against the West Indies, didn’t score runs there,” said Chopra on his YouTube channel.
“Then he played three ODIs, where he scored one half-century and a score of 34. He has single-digit scores in all three T20Is. It seems like he hasn’t scored runs at all on this West Indies tour. I feel there is one thing with him for sure – when the pitches are slightly slow, he will find it difficult to get into rhythm,” said the former India batter.
When in form, Shubman remains one of the most pleasing batters to watch among the newer generation of players. The youngster is among the select few in the world to score an ODI double century as well – a feat he achieved earlier this year during a match against New Zealand.