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Follow Us1325 runs in 31 innings @ 57.61 and a strike rate of 149.7 (50s/100s - 8/3)
729 runs in 25 innings @ 31.7 and a strike rate of 137.8 (50s/100s - 5/1)
What you are looking at are the numbers of two Indian batters in T20 cricket since June 2023. Now, one of them has been picked for India’s next T20I series against Sri Lanka, starting on July 27, and has even been appointed as vice-captain. Meanwhile, the other one has been left out of the squad. Just looking at those numbers, it won’t be tough to guess who has been picked and who has been dropped, right?
Well, not really!
The individual who hasn't been selected is the one averaging more than 57 and striking at close to 150. We are talking about Ruturaj Gaikwad. The right-handed batter and now the captain of Chennai Super Kings, Gaikwad has done everything in his control to command a place in India’s T20I XI. However, the selectors and India’s new head coach Gautam Gambhir have gone with Shubman Gill, who has been quite underwhelming compared to Gaikwad, and even Abhishek Sharma.
India went with an opening combination of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the 2024 T20 World Cup, with Yashasvi Jaiswal as the back-up in the main squad. The former two have now retired from the T20Is and Jaiswal was always going to walk into the XI as one of the openers, and rightly so. But there was a debate over who was going to partner up with Jaiswal at the top.
Was it going to be Gaikwad? Someone who has been a consistent run-getter in the IPL and has shown versatility by batting at different positions. Or was it going to be Abhishek? A young left-handed batter who has set the cricketing world on fire with his breathtaking hitting in the powerplay. Gill was always going to be in the mix but everyone believed that the former two were ahead in the pecking order, especially considering their form in the last one year.
A case of “recency bias” could have been made against Abhishek, who even smashed a 46-ball 100 in only his second T20I in Zimbabwe. But the same can’t be said about Gaikwad. The 27-year-old hasn’t just been scoring lots of runs but has also worked a lot on his power-hitting game. His exclusion makes no sense.
Gaikwas broke into India’s T20I set-up after finishing as the leading run-scorer in IPL 2021. The right-handed batter featured in nine T20Is till the end of 2022 and scored 135 runs at an average of 16.88 and a strike rate of 123.8. In the IPL, Gaikwad was scoring runs at an average of 37.72 but his strike rate read only 130.3, not good enough for modern T20 cricket.
Even Gaikwad realised that, and things started changing from 2023. In IPL 2023, Gaikwad slammed 590 runs in 15 innings at an average of 42.14 and a strike rate of 147.5. He featured in the two T20Is in Ireland in August last year, scoring 19* and 58 off 43. By then, he was already leading Maharashtra and there were reports about him being looked at as a captaincy candidate for India in the future.
In October 2023, Gaikwad captained India to a gold medal at the Asian Games in China and it looked like he would get a long run in the 20-over format, especially after the 2024 T20WC. He even did well in last year’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (244 runs @ 61 and an SR of 174.3). Then in the five-match series against Australia, Gaikwad hit 223 runs @ 55.75 and an SR of 159.3 while opening the innings. He even slammed his maiden ton, hitting 123* off 57 in Guwahati.
Despite being the leading run-getter in the previous series against Australia, Gaikwad didn’t get to feature in the T20I series in South Africa in December 2023. He fractured his finger during the ODI series and was subsequently ruled out of the home T20I series against Afghanistan, where both Rohit and Kohli made their comeback. It was pretty evident by then that Gaikwad wasn’t going to be part of India’s T20WC squad.
In this period, Gill featured in eight T20Is, scoring just 135 runs at an average of 16.63 and a strike rate of 126.7. While Gaikwad’s T20 graph was going up, Gill’s was coming down. Then came IPL 2024, where Gaikwad was appointed as CSK’s new captain, while Gill was handed over the captaincy of Gujarat Titans following Hardik Pandya’s departure.
In the tournament, Gaikwad got 583 runs @ 53 and an SR of 141.2, while Gill scored 426 runs @ 38.73 and a strike rate of 147.4. However, more than 62 percent of Gill’s total runs came in three innings. Meanwhile, Gaikwad was a lot more consistent, registering eight 30-plus scores in 14 innings. In the powerplay, Gaikwad (141.08) had a much better SR than Gill (131.08). Gaikwad looked a lot more comfortable with captaincy than Gill.
India didn’t pick either of them for the 2024 T20WC in the USA and the West Indies. But when the squad was announced for the Zimbabwe tour, India appointed Gill as captain ahead of Gaikwad who had already led the Men in Blue in the past. Jaiswal didn’t feature in the first two games and Gill opened the batting alongside Abhishek, with Gaikwad getting the No.3 spot.
Gaikwad got out for 7 in the first game but crafted 77* off 47 in the second T20I where Abhishek smoked a century. With Jaiswal coming back for the final three games, Gaikwad was pushed to No.4 in the third T20I but the batter from Pune still responded with a 28-ball 49. Gaikwad didn’t get a chance to bat in the fourth encounter and was left out for the fifth T20I.
Meanwhile, Gill opened the innings in all five games and scored 170 runs @ 42.5. He ended the series as the leading run-scorer but had an SR of just 125.93, much below Jaiswal’s 165.88, Abhishek’s 174.65 and Gaikwad’s 158.33. Despite playing out of position, Gaikwad delivered runs and did that at a superb rate, proving that he is more versatile than Gill.
But by making Gill the vice-captain, the Indian management have made their intentions clear. They are looking at Gill and Jaiswal as an opening pair, at least for now. Jaiswal surely deserves a long run, but it will be interesting to see how long they will persist with Gill in this format.
According to the ICC’s Future Tours Program, India are scheduled to play 33 more T20Is before the 2026 T20WC at home and Gaikwad has enough time to make a comeback.
But for now, the cricket fraternity is not impressed with Gaikwad’s exclusion from the Sri Lanka tour and to be honest, you can understand why. Gaikwad has every damn right to be disappointed.
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