Ravi Shastri sheds light on Shubman Gill’s omission, calls decision to play extra spinner as ‘brave’

Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri feels the decision to play Washington Sundar in place of Shubman Gill in the fourth Test match against Australia is a brave one. Gill had scored 60 runs in three innings at an average of 20 in the ongoing series and he was left out of the final XI. Furthermore, Gill had failed to go past the 50-run mark in the last 16 innings while playing outside Asia.

Gill had got off to starts in the pink-ball Test at Adelaide but he was dismissed for only two runs at the Gabba.

Sundar, on the other hand, had returned with figures of 2-48 in the second innings at Perth after going wicketless in the first essay. After Gill was dropped, Rohit Sharma is all set to bat in the top three.

Shastri feels India has made a positive decision and they want to give themselves the best chance to pick Australia’s 20 wickets.

“They have given themselves more bowling options because … the weather could play a role in that. It’s going to be very hot over the next few days. I think it is a proactive, positive move from India to back themselves, to back the top six, to score the runs, and then give themselves enough opportunities to take 20 wickets,” Shastri said on Fox Sports.

“It’s a brave decision; I would have thought that they would’ve kept Gill … it’s a tough one. Reddy is a good man to have, he’s played well in the series,” Shastri added.

On the other hand, Shastri’s fellow commentator Isa Guha feels India wants to provide more support to Jasprit Bumrah, who has been a lone warrior for the team in the ongoing series.

“It is a long Test series, so they probably want to offer a bit of support to Jasprit Bumrah,” Isa Guha told Fox Sports.

Australia are 276-5 after 74 overs on the opening day of the Boxing Day Test.