Shubman Gill's T20i Stats Paled by Two Openers; One Missed Out, Other Faces Discrimination

Shubman Gill: After being handed the captaincy of India’s Test and ODI teams, Shubman Gill has been playing as the vice-captain and opener in the T20 squad. However, he has been consistently failing in this format. Looking at the last two years’ T20 International records of the current four openers — Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Sanju Samson — Gill stands at the bottom with the poorest average and strike rate. While Abhishek has secured his place with impressive performances, dropping Jaiswal without giving him a chance and frequently changing Sanju’s batting position raise serious questions. This has led to growing calls for Gill’s exclusion from the T20 team.

Shubman Gill batting at an average of just 28.22

Shubman Gill made his T20 debut for India in January 2023 against Sri Lanka at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium. As an opener in his T20 International cricket career, Gill has played 31 matches so far, scoring 762 runs in 31 innings at an average of just 28.22 and a strike rate of 140.86. During this period, he has scored three half-centuries and one century.

Jaiswal dropped without getting a chance

Yashasvi Jaiswal was included in the Indian team for the tour of Australia but was dropped from the team without being given a chance. Jaiswal made his T20 debut for India in August 2023 against the West Indies.

Talking about Jaiswal's T20 International career as an opener, he has scored a total of 723 runs in 22 innings across 23 matches so far, with an average of 36.15 and a strike rate of 164.32. During this period, he has scored five half-centuries and one century.

Discrimination against Sanju Samson

In the first match of the current series against Australia, Sanju Samson did not get a chance to bat. In the second match, he was sent in at number three. However, in the third match, he was excluded from the playing XI altogether. Earlier, his batting order was also changed repeatedly during the Asia Cup. Looking at Samson's statistics as an opener over the past two years, he has scored 417 runs in 13 innings during this period at an average of 34.75 and a strike rate of 182.89.

Although Samson made his T20 debut for India in 2015, the irony is that he has only played 51 matches in the last 10 years. In 43 of these innings, he has scored 995 runs at an average of 25.51 and a strike rate of 147.41.