Shubman Gill is set to be engaged in an epic battle with Yashasvi Jaiswal for the lone opener’s spot in the India Cricket Team. The BCCI recently announced the India squad for the upcoming IND vs AFG 3-match T20I series. Rohit Sharma is back as the captain as the side and it is a straight fight between Gill vs Jaiswal for the lone opener’s spot in the team.
Rohit Sharma makes a comeback into the T20I squad after a span of 14 months, as does Virat Kohli. But the return of Rohit Sharma poses a problem for Gill and Jaiswal. Previously, it was a three way fight between Gill, Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Shubman Gill vs Yashasvi Jaiswal
But now with Gaikwad injured and Rohit back in the squad, the India captain will get his preferred opener’s spot. That means, there is only one spot remaining for Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal to fight for the lone opener’s spot.
Adding more problems to the India line-up is the return of Virat Kohli. He too like Rohit is returning to the shortest format of the game after 14 months after the fateful T20 World Cup semi finals against England.
With Virat Kohli returning, he will slot in at his number 3 role. This means unlike in Tests, Gill won’t be able go down the order to bat in at number 3. Furthermore, the middle order is cluttered with too players and thus the duo of Gill and Jaiswal will have to battle it out for the opener’s spot.
IND Squad vs AFG: Rohit Sharma (C), S Gill, Y Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, W Sundar, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan, Mukesh Kumar