‘Having an off-spinner…’:India’s coach finally speaks about Shubman Gill being Dropped from 4th Test against Australia

A lot has happened on Day 1 of the Boxing-Day Test between India and Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on December 26. While Australian debutant Sam Konstas made headlines with his impressive batting show after a verbal exchange with Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill being dropped from India’s playing XI was also something which was a topic of discussion.

However, Indian batting coach Abhishek Nayar clarified that Gill was not dropped from the team, stating that his exclusion was because of strategic reasons and not because of his performance. Nayar explained that the team management wanted an additional spinner, and believed that Washington Sundar would cause better balance and depth to the team in Melbourne.

“A lot of the decisions when they are made and the process of it being made, the communication is always there, transparency is there. It’s obvious that, we felt, looking at the pitch, that Washy in the bowling attack, will give us a variation, especially towards the end once the ball gets old. Post 50 overs, we felt that was an area we wanted to get better at. We felt Washy could give us that solidarity with Jaddu, given how Travis Head and Alex Carey were getting runs, so having an off-spinner provides us that,” Nayar said after the end of Day 1’s play of the MCG Test.

Gill also missed the opening Test in Perth due to a fractured finger. When he returned, he managed to score 28 and 31 runs in to innings of the pink-ball Test, but failed to convert these numbers into big scores. In the Gabba Test, Gill got dismissed for 1 run in the only innings where he batted.

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