Former India cricketer comes up with ‘brilliant’ advice for Shubman Gill to become permanent opener

India started its preparations for the 2023 ODI World Cup to be played late next year. In the three-match ODI series against New Zealand last month, the team didn’t start well. There are many issues that the team needs to address. However, in the wake of Shikhar Dhawan’s lack of consistency, Shubman Gill rose to the occasion with 108 runs in three games including a fifty.

Meanwhile, former India opening batter, Sunil Gavaskar has said that Gill needs to score more and more hundreds to cement his place in the team. The former added that Gill is a rare talent but half-centuries won’t be enough from him as converting them into big scores might have an impact on the game.

“This means that someone like Shubman Gill will have to scored hundreds and hundreds. Not the 50s and 60s that he is getting. He is a terrific talent, make no mistake. He is a rare talent. But he is not doing justice to his talent by getting out in the 50s or 60s. Yes sometimes I understand that you are kind of trying to up the scoring rate but he has got to convert those 50s and 60s into impact hundreds and 120. Those knocks make a difference to the result.”

Shikhar Dhawan brings in loads of experience: Sunil Gavaskar

Even though Gill is doing fine, the Indian team has an established pair of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan at the top. It is difficult to accommodate Gill if both are playing on the team. Meanwhile, Gavaskar has said that Dhawan has a point to prove given his ‘poor form’ in ODI cricket in the last few months.

“You are always looking for a left-right combination. Shikhar brings that left-handedness plus the loads of experience that he has got. I think he has a point or two to prove in the sense that he probably might be saying that with the kind of record that he has in T20 cricket he should be playing that as well. So I think it will be a great opportunity with these matches to show that he belongs to this squad and not just when the regulars are away,” he explained.