3 Reasons Why Gambhir’s Call To Replace Rohit Sharma With Gill Is Not A Blunder

Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill during BGT 2024-25 (Source: AP Photos)

Rohit Sharma will go down as one of the legends of white-ball cricket, but his Test career has been quite a strange one. He started off as a middle order batter but got his mojo only when he started opening the innings. He became the captain of the Test side, but now has hit another roadblock as the team management decided to drop their skipper in the final Test after his multiple failures.

Shubman Gill has been brought back into the XI in place of Rohit Sharma. The youngster was expected to score runs, but could not deliver in the first innings and departed on 20 off 64 balls after toiling hard for the most part of the first session. So, is Gill's inclusion over Rohit Sharma justifiable despite the former's failure in first innings? Here are the three reasons why Gambhir's bold call looks right.

Rohit Sharma's Torrid Form And Gill's Promising Starts

In the five innings that Rohit Sharma played in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, he scored just 31 runs. The Indian skipper did not look comfortable in any of his innings and failed in both middle order and at the top. Rohit also could not score runs in the practice match that India played while his form was poor in the New Zealand series as well. 

In the last eight Test matches, he has only one fifty-plus score to his name which clearly shows that the Indian skipper has struggled big time.

Shubman Gill, on the other hand, played three innings before the SCG knock and looked good in two of those. Scoring 31 and 28 with quite ease before getting dismissed against the run-of-play. 

In the first innings of SCG Test too, he displayed good patience and skills to tackle pacers, but ended up losing his wicket during anxious final few moments of the opening session. Gill also scored 90 against the Kiwis recently while he also had a century against Bangladesh which clearly shows that he has been in better form and is a more confident lad between the two.

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Rohit Sharma vs Shubman Gill - Test Performance In 2024

The comparison between the two in terms of their record in red-ball cricket in 2024 also clearly shows that Gill has been batting better than Rohit Sharma. The Hitman batted in 26 innings last year and scored 619 runs at an average of 24.76 with two hundreds and two fifties.

Shubman Gill, on the other hand, scored 866 runs in 22 innings at an average of 43.30. He also scored three centuries and three fifties last year. Not many Indian batters have an average of over 40 in 2024 and it shows that Gill has been one of the shining lights for India and deserved a place in the playing XI after being dropped for the Boxing Day Test.

Shubman Gill vs Rohit Sharma - Test Record In Australia

Shubman Gill played six Test matches in Australia before the final Test in this 2024-25 BGT. In the 10 innings, he has scored 339 runs at an average of 37.66 with two fifties while Rohit Sharma has struggled even more with an average of just 24.38 in 19 Test innings.

It shows that Shubman Gill does not have great record in Australia, but he still has better record that Rohit Sharma. Also, Gill's form has been up and down, but he has still looked more convincing and has score more runs than Rohit which makes his selection in the Indian team a wise decision with series and WTC final spot on the line.

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