India Assistant Coach Explains Rationale Behind Washington Playing Instead of Gill And Why Rohit Is Back Opening – News18

Last Updated:December 26, 2024, 19:41 IST

With Rohit Sharma opening the innings and KL Rahul coming at No. 3, Shubman Gill had to make way for Washington Sundar.

India assistant coach Abhishek Nayar explained the reason why Shubman Gill was not named in the playing XI for the fourth Test for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne.

Gill, who missed the first Test due to a finger injury, scored 31 and 28 in the Pink Ball Test and looked the most assured among Indian batters. He, however, got out for a duck in Brisbane.

Skipper Rohit Sharma, who was batting down at number six without much success, would be back opening the innings and KL Rahul would drop down to No. 3.

“Yes, Rohit will come up in the order and more likely than not, he will open the innings. That was the thought process. Unfortunately for Gill, just how things spanned out, he had to miss out,” Nayar was quoted as saying at the press conference after stumps on Day 1 of the fourth Test.

“I just feel for a young player in a position like that, a big day, he wants to make his mark. He understands it’s the team’s requirement and it’s unfortunate, but I wouldn’t say that he’s been dropped per se. It’s just unfortunate that he couldn’t find his place in this game,” he added.

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Nayar clarified that Gill was replaced by spin-bowling all-rounder Washington Sundar to have more bowling options while maintaining a longer batting order, especially at the MCG.

“A lot of the decisions when they are made, and the process of it being made, the communication is always there and transparency is there. It’s pretty obvious that we felt in these conditions, looking at the pitch, having Washy in the bowling attack will give us that variation, especially towards the end once the ball gets old,” Nayar said.

“Post the 50 overs, we felt that was an area that we wanted to get better at. We felt Washy could give us that solidarity with Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja), especially the way Travis Head and Alex Carey were getting runs lower down. So we felt having an offie in the ranks will provide us with that,” he added.