Former India medium-pacer Atul Wassan has said that it was impractical for the team management to make Shubman Gill play all three formats and expect him to flourish in all of them, adding that it would
be unfair to expect a person to keep switching gears across formats.
Gill was omitted from the upcoming T20 World Cup team, with Sanju Samson restored as the first-choice opener and Ishan Kishan, fresh off a blazing century in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final, named as cover.
Wassan backed the decision, saying that it signalled a clear shift towards specialist T20 players.
“I wouldn’t say that Shubman Gill has been axed. Because, you know, I hear a lot of talk about it, but yes, it was looking impractical and not pragmatic, according to me, for somebody to be captain of the Test team and then play all three formats,” Wassan said while speaking to ANI.
“The guy has to change gears and I think that is unfair these days,” the former India cricketer added.
After a stellar showing against England earlier in the summer in his first assignment as India’s Test skipper, Gill was recalled for the Asia Cup, returning to T20Is after more than a year and being reinstated as vice-captain.
The decision fuelled speculation that the BCCI had a long-term plan in mind, with Gill tipped to take over the captaincy in the format after the 2026 T20 World Cup. However, the move backfired as he struggled to adapt to India’s T20I template, not being able to register a single fifty over the past four months.
“Let him play the IPL. I think because of IPL…I can understand the pressure from the franchise owners because they would love to have an Indian T20 player in their IPL team and that raises the economic value,” Wassan said.
“Hence, I say that Shubman Gill, going forward, has to just detach himself and this team has to be pure T20 specialists. And I think that is the way forward. All the teams in the world are doing that,” Wassan added.
