WI vs IND 2022: He's Not Even The 3rd Choice - Pragyan Ojha On Shubman Gill; Slams Him For His Dismissals Thus Far

Former India spinner Pragyan Ojha has come down hard on young opener Shubman Gill, saying that the way he has been getting out in the recent two ODIs against West Indies, he cannot be even in contention to be in the Indian team for any big event.

Also, this doesn’t fare well for the young Punjab batter as the West Indies tour is an opportunity for several young players to make a name for themselves.

The likes of Sanju Samson, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, and Avesh Khan have been given chances to leave an impact. Some have, some haven’t. Shubman Gill has looked good in the first two matches, even scoring his maiden ODI half-century in India’s win in the first match in Trinidad on July 22. However, the ways he got out to have been heavily criticized.

In the opening match of the series, he was run out due to a lazy piece of running between the wicket, and in the second, he played a Dilscoop that went horribly wrong and ended up in a return catch to the bower.

Pragyan Ojha says Gill is very behind in the order when it comes to openers in limited overs for India and the 22-year-old needs to work on making the most of the opportunities he is getting and score big runs and refrain from getting out in silly ways.

“You have three matches. Did you see how he was dismissed in the first two? I am not being critical. When you have such opportunities and the team has given you a chance from the first match of the series, and you have got a brilliant start… you have to convert it, score a big hundred because he’s not even the third-choice opener.

You’re the fourth or fifth. How else will you climb up? You have to get those big runs. Gill is in tremendous form, He will have to think about… one, the way he was run out in the first match. Second, how he got out in the next game, that caught and bowled. It was not needed,” Ojha told Jamie Alter on his Glance chat show, The Alternate View.

If KL Rahul Was Fit, Shubman Gill Would Not Have Got These Chances: Pragyan Ojha

Ojha also pointed out the stiff competition in the Indian limited overs team for the opening slots with Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul being the preferred openers, with Ishan Kishan being groomed as the third opener and keeper.

There are also contenders like Sanju Samson, Shikhar Dhawan, and others and Ojha said that for Gill to stake a claim, he needs to score big runs every time he gets a chance.

“He will have to realise that these opportunities don’t come easily and the best example for Gill is Sanju Samson. We all talk about his talent, but because we have got some good wicket-keepers he gets very few opportunities. If KL Rahul was fit, Gill would not have got these chances. You have got the chance, so you better grab it with both hands. He would be more upset because, he got the start and he also has to see that behind him, Ruturaj Gaikwad is also waiting and he has scored plenty of runs in domestic cricket,” pointed out Ojha.

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