Indian youngster Shubman Gill, who made his ODI debut earlier this year, was a notable miss in India’s squad for the West Indies announced on Sunday.
The 19-year-old, who had replaced the suspended KL Rahul and scored 9 and 7 in his two outing in New Zealand, is widely seen to be a future star batsmen for Indian national team. He is in the Caribbean as well, playing with the India A team and has piled on the runs.
However, the selectors decided to go with Shreyas Iyer and Manish Pandey over the youngster. Gill was understandably disappointed with the miss and admitted that he thought he would be part of at least one squad.
“I was waiting for the Indian senior team to be announced on Sunday and I expected to be selected for at least one of the squads. It was disappointing not to get picked but I am not going to spend time thinking over it.” Gill was quoted as saying by CricketNext.
The Under-19 World Cup winner was the Player of the Series and the top run-getter for India A in the five-match one-day series with 218 runs in four games with three fifties and a top-score of 77.
However, he said that he will keep trying to get back in the team. “I’ll keep scoring runs and performing to the best of my ability to impress the selectors,” he added.
The teenager said that the most important lesson he had learned from his first West Indies tour was to curb the natural game to suit the match condition, an aspect that coach Rahul Dravid has been trying to teach him as well.
“It’s important to block the good balls as well and remain at the crease for as long as possible. Person who is set at the crease needs to bat through the difficult period,” the 19-year-old said.
“Yes, this along with a lot of other important inputs have been passed on by Dravid sir,” Gill added.
Even though he has not been selected for the West Indies tour, he will be in the Caribbean for the three unofficial Tests against West Indies ‘A’. Perhaps a string of good performances and fortune may give him another shot at international cricket.
Read full interview here
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