If two T20 internationals are enough to put Shubman Gill on trial, then the problem isn’t Gill’s form — it’s our impatience.
That, in essence, was Ashish Nehra’s message as he dismantled the latest round of hand-wringing around India’s vice-captain and Gujarat Titans skipper. Gill’s recent numbers — 181 runs in 10 T20Is at a strike-rate below 140 — have become convenient ammunition in a format that thrives on instant gratification and shorter memories.
Nehra, never one to sugar-coat, wasn’t buying the panic. Not even a little.
“Forget three months,” he said, brushing aside concerns about the approaching IPL. “Even if the IPL was three weeks away, I wouldn’t be worried.” In Nehra-speak, that is not reassurance — it is dismissal of the very premise of the question.
And rightly so. T20 cricket is designed to exaggerate extremes. Two failures can look like a trend; two cameos can suddenly elevate a player to saviour status. Judging a technically sound, temperamentally solid batter like Gill over such a tiny sample size is less analysis and more anxiety.
What Nehra really took aim at was India’s obsession with numbers stripped of context. Strike-rates, averages and recent returns are increasingly treated as final verdicts, rather than indicators that require interpretation. In that environment, even players of Gill’s pedigree are not spared.
Nehra’s sarcasm did the heavy lifting. If chopping and changing is the answer, he suggested, there are endless combinations. Drop Gill and Abhishek Sharma — open with Sai Sudharsan and Ruturaj Gaikwad. Drop them too — try Washington Sundar and Ishan Kishan. The point was sharp and deliberate: when selection becomes reactive, stability becomes the first casualty.
The irony, of course, is that Gill is exactly the kind of player T20 teams should persist with — adaptable, technically sound and capable of pacing an innings when others around him play higher-risk roles. Not every batter needs to swing from ball one, and not every innings needs to be a 200-plus strike-rate exhibition.
Nehra’s faith extends beyond Gill. His assessment of Washington Sundar was revealing — and refreshingly uncomplicated. For Nehra, Sundar is first and foremost a batter who can slot in anywhere from the top to the middle order, with off-spin that becomes a bonus on helpful surfaces.
At 25, Sundar is still a work in progress, but Nehra believes his best years are ahead. Limited opportunities last season were about team balance, not ability — a distinction often lost in public debate.
The broader context is Gujarat Titans’ enviable stability heading into the IPL mini-auction. While franchises like KKR and CSK arrive with bulging purses and rebuilding agendas, Titans have little to fix. With most slots already filled and just Rs 12.90 crore to spend, theirs is a luxury problem — fine-tuning rather than overhaul.
That, perhaps, explains Nehra’s calm. Teams that know who they are don’t flinch at temporary dips in form. They back process over panic and players over noise.
In a cricket culture increasingly addicted to instant answers, Nehra’s defence of Gill feels almost old-fashioned. But in T20 cricket — chaotic, unforgiving and wildly misleading over small samples — it may be the most modern approach of all.
Also Read: Shubman Gill Likely to Lose Gujarat Titans Captaincy https://www.vibesofindia.com/shubman-gill-likely-to-lose-gujarat-titans-captaincy/
