Shubman's form adds to India's worries with T20 WC looming

Ten Doeschate says burden of leadership may have tightened him up but Gill will have to find his way

- Shalini Gupta

This wasn't the homecoming Shubman Gill had hoped for. In the second T20I against South Africa here, the India vice-captain was dismissed off the first ball he faced. It was a proper Test dismissal. The ball seamed away a bit, squared up the batter and the edge was taken at first slip.

And given that this dismissal was coming right after a two-ball dismissal in the first game, India have reasons to worry. They've tried to fit Gill into the T20 team but so far, the gambit hasn't worked. It is particularly irksome because they have more proven performers waiting in the wings.

Sanju Samson seemed to have got a good thing going with Abhishek Sharma at the top of the order and had scored three centuries in 2024. But he had to vacate that spot for Gill. Yashavii Jaiswal is another batter who could make the spot his own but he has had to wait as well. Plenty of talent to facilitate the creeping in of some doubt.

Gill, one might add, has shown that he can find success in the T20 format. His last three years in the IPL have seen him score 890 runs in 2023, 426 (2024) and 650 runs (2025) and place among the best in the country. He has also sought to address the strike-rate issues that plagued his early years in the league.