IND vs SA: "You have options..."- Ashish Nehra's bombshell statement on Shubman Gill's struggle in T20Is

Ashish Nehra said that it will be difficult if we start judging players like Shubman Gill after just two-three matches.

Former Indian Cricket Team pacer Ashish Nehra has defended Shubman Gill over his batting woes in the ongoing T20I series against South Africa Cricket Team, stating that it’s too early to judge him. Nehra added that it’s not justified to analyse a player’s performance after just two games.

Gill, who missed the ODI series against South Africa due to a neck injury, returned to the side for the T20I campaign. However, he completely struggled to make a mark with the bat, getting out for just four runs and 0 across his two outings.

In the second T20I against the Proteas in New Chandigarh, the right-handed batter grabbed a golden duck in the first over. As India had a mammoth target of 214 runs at the front, opener and vice-captain Gill’s dismissal came as a huge blow at the start. The Men in Blue lost the plot from the beginning, eventually losing the encounter by 51 runs.

Notably, Gill took over the opener’s slot from Sanju Samson after returning to the shortest format earlier this year. With the latter missing the first two games against South Africa and Gill failing to perform with the bat, numerous fans and a few cricket experts have openly questioned his spot in the T20I side.

Ashish Nehra defends Shubman Gill amid batting struggles against the Proteas

Amid the criticisms, the 26-year-old batter has found support from his Indian Premier League (IPL) team Gujarat Titans (GT) head coach Nehra. In a chat with the leading English daily newspaper Times of India (TOI), Nehra said it’s too early to judge his performance as there have been only two games in the series so far.

He also added that there are plenty of options to replace the openers, however, such hasty decisions will make things difficult for the management.

“Look, the player you are talking about, (even) if the IPL was three weeks away, I wouldn’t be worried. You’re talking about the T20 format. And there are only two matches played with South Africa. 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, it will be difficult,” he said.

“You have options. 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. Options are always there if there are talks about changing players after not-good stats. But aise karoge to bahut mushkil hogi (But such a move will lead to difficulties),” he further added.

Meanwhile, Gill’s return to the T20I side has become a hot topic of discussion as he has failed score any half-centuries in 14 T20Is so far this year. Moreover, Jitesh Sharma’s inclusion as wicket-keeper batter over Samson despite the latter’s marvellous record last year has added fuel to this discussion.

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