Shubman Gill’s return to cricket from his neck injury didn’t go as hoped for: the Indian T20I vice-captain managed only four runs in the IND vs SA 1st T20I, and further pressure mounts on him and the team management with Sanju Samson pushed to the bench.
Gill had been out of action since the first Test against South Africa owing to a neck strain he sustained while playing a slog sweep in Kolkata. He missed the second Test in Guwahati and the following three-match ODI series, where KL Rahul led and Yashasvi Jaiswal opened in Gill’s stead.
With the T20 World Cup 2026 not far away, Gill’s return to the T20I series was important, both for him—he has yet to authoritatively own his spot—and for the Gambhir-Suryakumar leadership, who replaced Sanju Samson with Gill at the top despite the Kerala batsman thumping three T20I centuries last year, two of which were in South Africa.
Samson was pushed in the middle order during the Asia Cup, where he did well given the situations he batted in. But one failure in Australia meant he was dropped from the side, with Jitesh Sharma, the more accomplished finisher, taking his spot.
Ahead of the India vs South Africa 1st T20I in Cuttack, captain Suryakumar had said that Gill “deserved to take that spot” from Samson when he was available for the shortest format. However, the returns haven’t been convincing: in his last 13 T20Is since the Asia Cup, Gill averages 26 at a strike rate of 143 with a highest score of 47.
In the first T20I against South Africa, where Aiden Markram won the toss and elected to bowl first, Gill failed to last more than two balls and was dismissed in the first over by Lungi Ngidi. On the first ball he faced from Ngidi, Gill latched onto a loose delivery outside off and the thick edge went to the third-man fence for a boundary.
On the next ball, Gill, to the astonishment of many, skipped down the pitch and looked to chip a length delivery from Ngidi down the ground over, but a lack of timing meant the ball could only go as far as Marco Jansen at mid-off.
This low score further hurt Gill’s T20I numbers—which are underwhelming for a player of his caliber: average of 29 and strike rate of 140 after 34 T20Is—and also begged the question as to why a proven T20I opener in Samson is sidelined.
Fans lashed out at the Indian team management and trolled Shubman Gill after his cheap dismissal in Cuttack.
“Robbed Sanju Samson’s Place..”: Twitter reactions to Shubman Gill’s 4 (2) in IND vs SA 1st T20I:
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