Veteran Indian wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik has said that it is very necessary for Shubman Gill to perform for India in the upcoming second Test Match against South Africa in Capetown in order to retain his place in the Test team. Karthik said that Shubman is batting at the top order and he has been out of form in red-ball cricket.
Dinesh Karthik pointed out that Shubman Gill has struggled to replicate his impressive performances in white-ball cricket when it comes to Test matches.
While having a conversation at Cricbuzz, Karthik said, “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.”
Shubman Gill has faced challenges in finding his form during the current South Africa tour. In the recently concluded Boxing Day Test in Centurion, he recorded scores of 2 and 26. In the T20I series against South Africa, the young batsman managed only eight runs across two innings.
Karthik proposed the inclusion of players such as Sarfaraz Khan and Rajat Patidar, emphasizing their track records in domestic cricket.
“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.”
