‘This is a guy who is a T20 batter’. After the debacle in Ireland, Sanjay Manjrekar backs Shubman Gill’s return to Cricket News:

India suffered a shock 2-0 T20I series defeat in Ireland, marking the first time they have lost a bilateral T20I series against an Irish side. After dominating the IPL on batting-friendly surfaces, India’s young batting unit struggled to adapt to the seamer-friendly conditions in Ireland as the hosts defeated them in two matches. The result also marks another losing streak for Gautam Gambhir in his tenure as head coach.Former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar believes the defeat revealed a flaw in the composition of the Indian team rather than their execution. He argued that India has become over-reliant on batting all-rounders and now urgently needs a specialist middle-order batter, also he cited why Shubman Gill should return to the T20I setup. Carried by X, Manjrekar wrote: “That was too little earlier… under Gambhir, too many. The ‘all-rounders’. India needs a PURE middle-order batter, pronto!”

Manjrekar wants Gill to return to T20Is

During the broadcaster’s post-match discussion, Manjrekar further explained that India’s batsmen need to develop technique to succeed on pitches that offer help to the bowlers, instead of relying solely on the flat batting tracks they are used to at home and in the IPL. He cited Shubman Gill as the ideal example of a batter who can thrive in such conditions and backed the Indian ODI captain to eventually return to the T20I setup.“Shubman Gill… just for people to understand, this is someone who is a T20 batter now and has a big IPL too. I’m not talking about the captaincy, but these are the players that you slowly want to introduce back to T20 cricket because they have a little depth in situations like this and are used to them again, as we saw when he played in England and overseas,” Manj and overseas.“That’s the path for Shubman Gill going forward. It won’t happen immediately, but I think gradually you will see him back in India’s T20 plans,” he added.India have a chance to bounce back when they begin their five-match T20I series against England on July 1, with the team looking to put the disappointing Ireland tour behind them.