Mumbai, Dec 13: Gujarat Titans head coach Ashish Nehra is not amused by the snap judgements being passed on skipper Shubman Gill’s form, cautioning that writing him off after a couple of outings in the volatile T20 format reflects the growing tendency of arriving at quick conclusions.Gill, who made a comeback to the T20I set-up as vice-captain during the Asia Cup, has totalled 181 runs in the last 10 games at a below 140 strike-rate.
Nehra, who has watched Gill from close quarters as the GT head coach for the past two seasons, was asked whether he is worried considering that IPL is three months away.
“Forget three months, had IPL been three weeks away, I (still) wouldn’t be worried. Because you are talking about a format like T20. And only two matches have been played against South Africa, if I am not wrong,” Nehra, the former fast bowler known for straight shooting, replied to a query from PTI during an interaction with a select group.
Nehra feels that the fundamental problem with criticism in India is reaching a conclusion on the basis of numbers alone.
“This is our problem. In such a fast-paced tournament format, whether it’s international cricket or IPL, if a player like Shubman Gill is judged after not coming good in two to three matches, then it will be difficult,” Nehra said.
In his inimitable style laced with sarcasm, Nehra said if one reckons that change is needed, so many options are there to be tried.
“You have a lot of options if you want to see. You can remove Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill and you can open with Sai Sudharsan and Ruturaj Gaikwad,” Nehra said and his dig at critics wasn’t lost on anyone.
“If you want to remove them (Sai and Ruturaj), you can open with Washington Sundar and Ishan Kishan. So, you have a lot of options.