‘If Shubman Gill was from Tamil Nadu, he would’ve been dropped’: Former India batter questions what Punjab opener contributes to team

India’s top order batter Shubman Gill had a disappointing run in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. Gill did not find himself in top 15 run-scorer in the series. Following his disappointing run, former India cricketer Subramaniam Badrinath made a controversial remark as he said that Gill would’ve been dropped from the squad had he been from Tamil Nadu. Badrinath wanted Gill to grind it out in the middle like Marnus Labuschagne and Nathan McSweeney who struggled against the Indian pace attack as well.

“If this was Shubman Gill from Tamil Nadu, he would have been dropped. It is is very difficult for me to see this. For that level, he has not lived to expectations. You can get runs, you cannot but there should have been intent, aggression. I wanted him to tire out the bowlers. I want you to make the ball old. Help your teammates and stand firm even if runs are not coming. Play 100 balls, tire the bowlers. This is what your team contribution [is supposed to be]. Labuschange and McSweeney did that in a couple of games. By playing out a lot of dot balls, they had actually made Bumrah injured,” Badrinath said on Star Sports Tamil.

“You must not go there and say, oh this is the way I play. I will stand and deliver. Four people will write about it. Whatever you can do, at that time, you try and do. In this series, I did not get it from Shubman. Even on the field, he was poor. He couldn’t stay in slip and point. What does he contribute to the team?”

Gill scored 93 runs from five innings. His highest score of 31 came in the pink-ball Test at the Adelaide Oval. He averages just over 35 in Test cricket after playing 32 Tests since his debut at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 2020.

In the second innings of the Sydney Test, Gill stepped down the track against debutant Beau Webster and got caught by wicketkeeper Alex Carey. The 25-year-old is expected to return to action in the five-T20I series at home against England starting January 22.

Badrinath’s international career

The Tamil Nadu-born batter Badrinath has played two Tests, seven ODIs and one T20I. he scored just one half-century in his Test career against South Africa.