With a remarkable 2-1 series win over Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India found many positives in their team. Before the series started, there were doubts over who could possibly replace out-of-form KL Rahul as Rohit Sharma's opening partner. Talented youngster Shubman Gill, the fiery right-hander from Punjab, erased all those doubts by truly living up to the expectations of fans, cricket pundits and most importantly the team management.
Gill replaced under-fire KL Rahul in India XI and went on to score his second Test ton in Ahmedabad Test. He scored his maiden Test ton against Bangladesh in December 2022 and backed that up with a superb century against Australia in 4th Test. The 23-year-old is now being rated by many as the 'future of Indian cricket'. Not to forget, Gill has also been in superb form in white-ball formats, scoring tons in both T20Is and ODIs.
Reacting to Gill's future, former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly called the young opener a 'permanent player' in the Indian side for the high-octane World Test Championship (WTC 2023) final, set to be played between India and Australia from June 7 at The Oval, England.
"Firstly, congratulations to India for beating Australia. India have won in Australia, and they have won in England so there is no reason why they can't win it again (In the WTC final). Bat well, score 350-400, and you'll be in a position to win. Yeah (I see Shubman Gill retaining his place in the side). He has been brilliant in the last six-seven months. What else does he need to do? He's a permanent player now," Ganguly told Rev Sports.
Ganguly also praised senior spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja for their bowling heroics in IND-AUS Test series.
"Ashwin and Jadeja have been very good. You also have to speak about Axar Patel. He quietly does a good job lower down the order with the bat. Whenever he gets to bowl, he bowls well. That's India's strength, having Jadeja, Ashwin and Axar. I know you can't play all three away but there is tremendous potential there," Ganguly added.