Shubman Gill dropped for second spinner in MCG Test

It was clear something was afoot early in the day when, during the warm-up session, Shubman Gill was on the field for only a short period. He didn’t do much and left way before the toss on Thursday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The decision to drop him must have been quite a blow for a batter who is looked at as one of the big prospects of Indian cricket.

When it emerged that Gill had been dropped to accommodate a second spinner in Washington Sundar, the surprise was even bigger because it meant that India would be lining up with six bowlers — Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar and Nitish Reddy. And no matter how you see it, one can’t help but feel that is a bowler too many.

The other conclusion one can draw from this is the team management felt that Gill wouldn’t bring any more to India’s batting than, say, Jadeja, Sundar or Reddy and it will be interesting to see whether this gamble pays off.

“I think a lot of the decisions when they are made and the process of it being made, the communication is always there and transparency is there,” said assistant coach Abhishek Nayar at close of play on Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test.

“I think it’s pretty obvious that we felt in these conditions, looking at the pitch, having Washi (Washington Sundar) in the bowling attack will give us that variation, especially once the ball gets old. Post the 50 overs, we felt that was an area that we wanted to get better at. We felt Washi could give us that solidity with Jaddu, especially the way Travis Head and Alex Carey were getting runs lower down.”

Nayar added: “Unfortunately for him, that’s just how things panned out. And sometimes I just feel for a young player in a position like that, a big day, he wants to make his mark. He understands it’s the team’s requirement and it’s unfortunate….”

Gill’s away record hasn’t been great but, at the same time, it has been better or perhaps as good as some of the seniors around. Given that he was putting the hard yards in practice, this decision will give him a lot to think about.

A little after the game started, Gill hit the nets and practised for a bit before making his way back into the dressing room. It is the only thing he could do. With Rohit Sharma, who is all set to open the innings, and Virat Kohli struggling for form too, who knows how quickly the team will require Gill’s services again.