Srinagar: Team India’s veteran wicketkeeper batter Dinesh Karthik has put a huge question mark on the place of Shubman Gill in Test squad after batters another failure in first Test vs South Africa at Centurion.
South Africa registered an innings and 32 run win vs India on Thursday.
Shubman Gill’s struggles came under spotlight as the young batter has failed to make an impression in the longest format so far. In 35 Test innings, Gill has 994 runs at a disappointing average of 31.06; his last 50+ score came in March earlier this year when he smashed 128 against Australia in Ahmedabad. Since then, in 7 innings, his highest score was an unbeaten 29 against the West Indies.
“Shubman Gill is the big question mark here. He has not lived up to the expectations that people have. I think even he would be aware that if you are going to average mid-30s or early-30s after having played 20 Tests, then you would consider yourself to be a bit lucky to be around. His place will definitely be under the scanner if he doesn’t have a great Test match in the next one,” Dinesh Karthik told Cricbuzz.
“The only middle-order name that we are missing out on is Sarfaraz Khan. I have no doubt that he will make it to the squad much sooner than he thinks right now. Other than that, you do not have any other names doing the round in the middle order right now. Rajat Patidar is a very, very strong name that I think they will be looking at very soon,” said the wicketkeeper-batter.