India’s assistant coach Abhishek Nayar on Thursday defended axing Shubman Gill from the Boxing Day Test, saying it was in team’s best interest to not only have Rohit Sharma back to his usual opening slot but also add some sting to the attack by drafting in spin all-rounder Washington Sundar. Gill, who missed the first Test due to a finger injury, scored 31 and 28 in the Pink Ball Test and looked the most assured among Indian batters. He, however, got out for a duck in Brisbane. With Rohit Sharma opening the innings and KL Rahul coming at No. 3, Gill had to make way for a third specialist all-rounder in Washington.
“Yes, Rohit will come up in the order and more likely than not, he will open the innings. That was the thought process. Unfortunately for Gill, just how things spanned out, he had to miss out,” Nayar said at the end of the day’s play.
“I just feel for a young player in a position like that, a big day, he wants to make his mark. He understands it’s the team’s requirement and it’s unfortunate, but I wouldn’t say that he’s been dropped per se. It’s just unfortunate that he couldn’t find his place in this game,” the former Mumbai stalwart said but the explanation lacked conviction.
He elaborately explained why playing Washington at the MCG made sense ahead of Gill.
“A lot of the decisions when they are made, and the process of it being made, the communication is always there and transparency is there. It’s pretty obvious that we felt in these conditions, looking at the pitch, having Washy in the bowling attack will give us that variation, especially towards the end once the ball gets old,” he said.
“Post the 50 overs, we felt that was an area that we wanted to get better at. We felt Washy could give us that solidarity with Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja), especially the way Travis Head and Alex Carey were getting runs lower down. So we felt having an offie in the ranks will provide us with that.”
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