‘This is a guy who is a T20 batter’: After Ireland debacle, Sanjay Manjrekar backs Shubman Gill’s comeback

India suffered a shocking 2-0 T20I series defeat to Ireland, marking the first time they have lost a bilateral T20I series against the 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 outplayed them in both matches. The result also marked another series defeat for Gautam Gambhir in his tenure as head coach.

Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar believes the defeat exposed a flaw in India’s team composition rather than just their execution. He argued that India have become overly reliant on batting all-rounders and now urgently need a specialist middle-order batter, also he cites why Shubman Gill should make a comeback in T20I setup.

Taking to X, Manjrekar wrote: “It was too little earlier… under Gambhir, it is too many. The ‘all-rounders’. India need a PURE middle-order batter, pronto!”

Manjrekar wants Gill back in T20Is

During the broadcaster’s post-match discussion, Manjrekar further explained that Indian batters must develop the technique to succeed on pitches offering assistance to bowlers, instead of relying solely on the flat batting tracks they are accustomed to at home and in the IPL. He cited Shubman Gill as the ideal example of a batter capable of thriving in such conditions and backed the India ODI captain to eventually make a return to the T20I setup.

“Shubman Gill… just for people to understand, this is a guy who is a T20 batter now and had a tremendous IPL as well. I’m not talking about captaincy, but these are the players you slowly want to introduce back into T20 cricket because they have a little more depth in conditions like these and are used to them as well, like we saw when he played in England and overseas,” Manjrekar said.

“That is the path for Shubman Gill going forward. It won’t happen immediately, but I think you will slowly start seeing him back in India’s T20 plans,” he added.

India will have an opportunity to bounce back quickly 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.

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