‘Samson & Jaiswal breathing down Shubman Gill’s neck’ – Aakash Chopra before India vs Australia T20Is

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has gone all-in on Shubman Gill. He has been named India’s Test and ODI captain, but that isn’t all, since Gill will be the one to take over from Suryakumar as T20I captain. While all the trust has been shown, his T20 stats aren’t that great.

At the moment, Gill is keeping two openers, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sanju Samson, who have a better record than him, away from the side. Jaiswal has a better Indian Premier League (IPL) and T20I record than Gill, while Samson was India’s second opener and partner with Abhishek Sharma until Gill came back in the 2025 Asia Cup.

Is Shubman Gill under pressure?

Former India opener Aakash Chopra thinks Gill will be under pressure in the India vs Australia T20I series. “This T20I series will be extremely important for Shubman Gill. It’s important for him because runs weren’t scored when he was elevated to ODI captaincy. Again, you can’t read too much into it because it’s just been one series. I get that. So, it’s not like there is a question on his place,” Aakash said on his YouTube channel.

Although Samson has been demoted to the middle order, Jaiswal isn’t even in the side. With each failure, people will question why Gill’s in the side itself and even more will ask what the reasoning was behind naming him India’s T20I vice-captain.

“People are breathing down his neck. One is in the team itself. Sanju Samson had opened and done well. You are keeping him with the team and making him bat down the order. Many times, it seems like you are being unjust to Sanju Samson. There is pressure if you are not making him open. Yashasvi Jaiswal is around the corner. He says he is also there and should also be played, and that he would also hit if he is played. So, making Jaiswal sit out also becomes an issue of pressure,” he added.

India T20I squad for Australia series

Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill (vc), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (wk), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar

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