India’s ODI and Test skipper Shubman Gill, who was left out of the T20 World Cup next month, stated on Saturday that he accepts the selectors’ choice and is still committed to giving it his all whenever the chance presents itself.
Despite leading India in the longer formats, the 26-year-old was not selected for the T20 World Cup next month. He has scored 869 runs at an average of 28.03 and a strike rate of 138.59 in 36 Twenty20 Internationals for India.
“My belief is that in my life, I am right where I have to be and whatever things are written in my destiny, no one can take those things from me,” a PTI report quoted Gill telling reporters ahead of the first ODI against New Zealand in Vadodara on Sunday.
“Obviously as a player, you have a belief that if you play in the World Cup, you will win (it for) your team, (and) you will win (it for) your country. Having said that, I respect the selectors’ decision and (I am) wishing the T20 team all the very best and I really hope that they win the World Cup for us”.
Gill responded that it’s crucial to keep things simple when asked if his exclusion might have a negative mental impact.
“Being a sportsperson, it’s all about being in the present, the more (in the) present you are, even when you are on the field, more you are not thinking about what’s going to happen, or what has happened in the previous moment, it gives you more chances of succeeding,” he said.
“I try to look at what I need to do now and what is important. The more we can be in the present moment, it makes our life more simpler, and if you make your life more simpler, it’s a much peaceful and a happier space that you would want to be in.”
Since taking over as India’s full-time ODI captain, the New Zealand series is just his second assignment. Gill had a neck injury on the second day of the first Test in Kolkata in November, which prevented him from participating in the second Test against South Africa and the subsequent ODI series.
“(It is) never easy, especially whenever you get injured, watching your team play and you feel like you’re missing out on all those games, especially when you’ve just been named the captain. There are so many things that you want to do and when you sit out there, it’s definitely very frustrating,” he said.
The idea that veteran players had opted for a “easier format” to continue playing for India was also rejected by Gill.
“The Indian cricket team hasn’t won a World Cup since 2011, so if it was that (easy), we would be winning (the) World Cup every second year (edition). It’s easy to say (that) but I don’t think any format is easy. It requires a lot of resilience, a lot of persistence, and a lot of determination to be able to win big ICC tournaments,” he said.
Gill claimed that in his conversations with the BCCI, he has been especially adamant about getting additional time to prepare before Test series.
“One of the suggestions that I was very keen on is, if you would see in the last two Test series that we played, we didn’t have that much time to prepare. It’s not easy playing in India, and playing another match in a different country on the fourth day, especially when you are travelling on long tours,” he said.
Gill stated that he feels the Test team did not have enough time to prepare before the two home series this season, hence this viewpoint would not have altered even if India had defeated South Africa.
“Even if we would have won the series against South Africa, it still wouldn’t have made that much of a difference, because we know we need to prepare well to be able to win Test matches all over the world. Preparation for me is really big, and I didn’t think that we had that much time to prepare when we came back from Australia, or even after the Asia Cup when we played the West Indies series,” he said.
“It’s important to at least have some bit of preparation especially changing from white-ball format to red-ball. I think we’ll take some action and we’ll keep it in mind to be able to prepare well before the start of any red-ball series,” he added.
