MUMBAI: Running parallel to the ongoing 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament is the audition for the ICC T20 World Cup squad.
For India, according to reports, the squad will be made official by the end of April. Shubman Gill, who was the leading run-getter in IPL 2023, announced his arrival in the 17th season of the league with a stunning unbeaten knock of 89, albeit in a losing cause against Punjab Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Friday. Gill stands among the contenders for the top-order position in the T20I side for India. However, irrespective of his knock against PBKS, former New Zealand cricketer Simon Doull believes that the Gujarat Titans skipper does not fit into the T20 World Cup squad as he sent a rather startling “KL Rahul” advice to BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar.
Since his debut in the international format, Gill has amassed 335 runs in 14 innings at a strike rate of 147.57, laced with a fifty and a ton. He also pulled off an 890-run season on IPL 2023, where the Gujarat Titans opener smashed three centuries and four fifties at a strike rate of 157.80.
Gill’s direct competition for the spot in the T20 World Cup team is against Yashasvi Jaiswal, who not only brings the left-handed factor at the top of the line-up but can go after the opposition attack from ball one. In 16 innings since his debut in mid-2023, Jaiswal scored 502 runs in T20Is for India at 161.93, laced with a ton and four fifties.
While Jaiswal’s impressive numbers in the format, which also includes an impressive 625-run season (One 100, four fifties and 163.61 SR) for Rajasthan Royals last year, put Gill in the fray to bag the backup opener slot, Doull feels that the spot should be reserved for Rahul, who can also keep wickets, and hence will be a “real bonus” for the management in juggling their options through the World Cup campaign, rather than picking an out-and-out top-order batter.
“Not yet. No, no, no,” started off Doull, on Cricbuzz, when asked if Gill made the T20 World Cup squad after his knock of 89 against Punjab.
“He’s got a, you know, I mean, that spot up the top when you take in a World Cup 15. It should be 18 in my opinion. But when you’re taking that side and you’re picking it, you only carry one extra top-order batter. You’ve probably only room for one top-order replacement batter if it happens to be someone like KL Rahul, who can keep wickets for you. And that is a real bonus. That top-order replacement batter, he keeps, Shubman doesn’t keep. And if he can’t make the side ahead of Jaiswal, Rohit and Virat at the moment, he probably doesn’t go,” he explained.
With still 25 days left in April, when Gujarat plays six more matches in IPL 2024, Gill will certainly have his chances to prove Doull wrong and make the 15-man World Cup squad for India.
