IND vs SA: Pressure on Shubman Gill to deliver as team backs him to open over Sanju Samson

Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma face the challenge of proving themselves as a formidable T20I opening pair against South Africa. Despite Sanju Samson's strong performances, Gill has been reinstated as opener, with management citing his vice-captaincy. Gill's recent T20I form has been underwhelming, and he needs to find a balance between anchoring and matching Abhishek's aggressive style.
Shubman Gill. (Image: AP)
MULLANPUR: Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma have grown up playing together and dominating with the bat in cricket grounds around Chandigarh. When they mark their guards in the second T20I against South Africa at the new PCA Stadium here in Mullanpur on Wednesday evening, they will face the onerous task of having to prove themselves as a formidable T20I opening pair. The crowd will be eager to see the local boys take off in the first men’s international at this venue.
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There has been a lot of noise around Gill taking up the opening position despite Sanju Samson contributing above-par performances when Gill was busy with Test cricket. Samson and Abhishek formed a ruthless opening pair post the T20 World Cup in 2024. On the eve of this series, captain Suryakumar Yadav reiterated the basis for that decision — the team management felt it was unfair on Gill to be left out since he was ahead of Samson in the queue and was designated as the vice-captain immediately after the T20 World Cup. The same argument somehow didn’t hold for Yashasvi Jaiswal . Jaiswal too was consigned to Test cricket duties and that opened an opportunity for Abhishek. Rishabh Pant , a member of the T20 World Cup-winning side, too fell behind in the race and Jitesh Sharma replaced him in the squad. It is fairly established Gill is the man identified to lead India in all formats. But Gill’s performance after resuming T20I cricket from the Asia Cup in Sept has been underwhelming. In the meantime, Samson batted down the order and lost his place to Jitesh in the XI. Abhishek and Gill did get India off to good starts in two matches against Pakistan in the Asia Cup. But it was more due to Abhishek’s ruthless onslaught. It is unrealistic to expect Gill to match Abhishek’s insanely high strike rate. Yet, Gill has a role to play. He is looked at as someone who can anchor a T20I innings, much like Virat Kohli used to do for the team. Gill does that role well as captain of Gujarat Titans in the IPL. But it appears he is trying to match the power game of Samson and Abhishek. It could be a classic case of surrendering to peer pressure. Now that Samson has been relieved of middle-order duties, it seems he is now the designated backup opener, since the selectors have not picked anyone else suited for the role. Gill is aware of the backing of the management. He will also be aware he can’t afford to eat up more time and put further pressure on Abhishek to score.
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