Ever since returning to the T20I set-up as vice-captain, Shubman Gill has blown hot and cold with the bat. The opener has had a few starts but lacked consistency that he has enjoyed in other formats and for Gujarat Titans (GT) in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Gill was dismissed for a golden duck in the second T20I versus South Africa and could only manage four runs in the five-match series opener in Cuttack. The 26-year-old is drawing a lot of criticism for a tally of 263 runs in last 14 outings in the format but GT head coach Ashish Nehra is “not worried” about the stats and backs his captain to come good.
“Look, the player you are talking about. If IPL was 3 weeks away, I wouldn’t be worried. Because you are talking about T20 format. And there are only 2 matches played with South Africa. If I am not wrong. And this is our problem. In such a fast-paced format, whether it is international cricket or IPL, if we start evaluating players like Gill after two-three matches, then it will be difficult. You have many options, if you want to see. You can remove Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill. You can open with Sai Sudharsan and Ruturaj Gaikwad. If you want to remove them, you can do it with Washington Sundar and Ishan Kishan. So options are always there if there are talks about changing players after not good stats but aise karege to bahut mushkil hogi,” says Nehra in a select media interaction.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Apart from Gill, another GT player making a lot of noise with his performances with both bat and ball is Washington Sundar. Retained by the franchise, the all-rounder is playing all three formats for India. There were murmurs of a trade deal involving the youngster and while Nehra rubbished those claims, he lavished praise on the cricketer he expects to grow in confidence after regular outings for India. Nehra feels he is not a finished product yet and hopes the youngster stays in form, and gets better from here.“Washington Sundar, the kind of skill set he has… number one, for me, Washington Sundar is a batsman who can bat from 1 to 6, 7, whatever number you want him to bat. He has the ability to bat that much. And now, as he is playing all three formats for India, he will gain more confidence. It also depends on the conditions. As I said, if there is a little help in the pitch, then Washington Sundar has the full package with both batting and bowling. With the new ball, he has bowled very well from where he started his career. “So it depends on how the team uses him. But overall, Washington Sundar, whether you talk about batting, bowling, or fielding, he is a quick fielder and very deceptive. He is not a finished product. The sky is the limit. He will get better from here. He is only 25-26 years old and has been in the system for so many years. So now his experience is coming in front of you. Because of the combination last year, he was not able to play that much. But next year, I hope he stays in form. Then you will see him playing more than last year,” says Nehra.
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GT have retained their core team ahead of the mini-auction in Abu Dhabi next week and Nehra asserts they will approach the bidding with a very open mind. With a remaining purse of Rs 12.9 crores and only five available slots, the franchise is expected to be not very active on the table but will have to ensure some smart buys to fill in the gaps.“Our core team is set and we have released only 4-5 players. So we go in the auction with a very open mind. When you are making a team from scratch, like last year, it’s a different kind of strategy. But right now, pretty much all the slots are filled. So we’ll see what we’ll get, the kind of purse we have because other teams have so much purse. So you have to go with the flow, go with the auction. And this time, again, we are looking. to do that only. Our team is set. Rahul Tewatia, Shah Rukh Khan, Washington Sundar, so many middle order batsmen already, Glenn Phillips. You have so many players,” adds the former India cricketer.
