I am a little bit surprised that they have dropped Shubman Gill: Sunil Gavaskar

Shubman Gill’s form with the bat in Tests has dipped significantly and the same is evident in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. He has played two Tests and batted in three innings, managing to score only 60 runs at an average of 20 with a highest score of 31 runs. It is worth noting that he missed the first Test due to a thumb injury and Devdutt Padikkal filled in for him in Perth. 

Meanwhile, the captain Rohit Sharma himself is struggling to come among the runs in the middle order after letting in-form KL Rahul open the batting. In a bid to return to that top order while also playing an extra spinner, Gill was dropped in the fourth Test. Former India cricketer, Sunil Gavaskar was left surprised as the young batter was dropped and suggested that there could have been a different change.

“Well, I think there was one change expected, but I’m a little bit surprised that they’ve dropped Shubman Gill and that they’ve taken Washington Sundar. No problem with Washington Sundar because he will bowl a lot. He will get to bowl a lot. But if Washington Sundar had to come in place of anybody, I thought it should have been in place of Nitish Kumar Reddy," Gavaskar said as quoted by News18.

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“If you’re batting at No. 8 and bowling about 10 overs, you’re not the fourth bowler that they’re looking for. But this looks like a very good batting line-up. At the moment, the top order hasn’t clicked. If the top order clicks, then India should be able to get loads of runs on this pitch," he added.

Speaking of the Melbourne Test, Australia won the toss and opted to bat first on a batter friendly track. They started on a solid note with debutant Sam Konstas, Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne scoring half centuries at the top of the order. But India quickly made a comeback on the back of Jasprit Bumrah’s three-fer and ended Day 1 on 311/6 with Steven Smith and Pat Cummins remaining unbeaten on 68 and 8 respectively.