He will also have to do without important players for the upcoming ODI series against West Indies, as the likes of Shreyas Iyer will be busy with the Asian Games 2026. Throughout Gill’s captaincy tenure, stars like Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya have regularly missed games across formats due to injury.
India head coach Gautam Gambhir stated that it is “not fair” on Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill to have to often play without several of his key players.
India head coach Gautam Gambhir stated that it is “not fair” on Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill to have to repeatedly play without several of his key players.
As a coach, I can take all the criticism, but for me, I think it is important for Shubman to get the best playing 11 as many times as he can in red-ball and in white-ball formats,” said Gambhir. Because the next year’s World Cup is in the 50-over format, in Test cricket and one-day cricket especially, you want your best players to play as much as they can.
Gambhir said playing without key players is not ideal preparation for the World Cup in a year’s time. “If I can be completely honest, then yes. “And more importantly, it’s not fair on a young captain (Gill) as well if he doesn’t get the best team playing consistently and regularly, and , and not being on the path consistently. “If I have to be dead honest, yes. “Obviously, we know that it’s not ideal when you’re preparing for a World Cup which is in a year’s time. But again, the Asian Games squad was selected long back, and sometimes it’s difficult for the selectors when they have to put the best squad in place. “And obviously, in a series like this, you’ve got young guys like Naman Dhir, Auqib Nabi, getting those opportunities in the squad. So they can also show what they bring in the white-ball format. And obviously, the bigger the pool, the better it is for us.
