‘Unsurprising’ – former cricketer Priyank Panchal on Shubman Gill being picked and Babar, Rizwan being omitted

“Unsurprising,” Panchal tweeted, adding Gill’s runs for Gujarat Titans would have been hard to ignore. “2000+ runs in last three IPL seasons at a strike rate of over 150 means that Shubman always deserved that spot,” Panchal, who called it quits four months back, said.

His take was on not ignoring the nuance of perception – and in this case that was typecasting Gill as a Test first-choice. While there has been general unrest over Iyer bring ignored, raising his aura, as a “people’s player”, Panchal noted that Gill, the GT captain and second best scorer after Sai Sudharsan ought not to be left behind.

“Sometimes we mistake a solid technique for lack of ingenuity in T20s. That’s a problem of perception. Glad Gill wasn’t a victim of that #AsiaCup,” Panchal tweeted.

As such, Gill’s comeback was to be expected, given how widely he’s looked at, as the heir apparent for leadership, thus relegating Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal out of the picture. He was 4th highest on IPL runs this year, and couldn’t take his team Gujarat Titans to the IPL finals like Shreyas Iyer, but his marauding march right back as vice captain, has an inevitability to it, even at the cost of edging out other notable batsmen. Panchal offered the explanation of why Gill might just be as ingenious and adaptive as the more proven Jaiswal and Shreyas.

Babar, Rizwan’s omission not surprising

Panchal had been similarly not stunned by Pakistan leaving out Babar Azam and Mo Rizwan. “Unsurprising,” he had tweeted. “The squad seems to have (coach Mike) Hesson’s blueprint on it. Both Babar and Rizwan have been stuck in 2021-22 and failed to evolve their batting style in white ball cricket off late. This was long time coming. #AsiaCup,” Panchal tweeted.

While India and Pakistan are scheduled to play on September 14, and some Pakistani players have even baited India by saying their team will beat their much stronger and assured rivals, it remains to be seen post Operation Sindoor, if India will play the bad-blooded tie. This will be the first time in years that there wont be a Rohit Sharma or Virat Kohli to lean on, against Pakistan, given the duo retired after winning the World Cup. And Shreyas Iyer had the right amount of swagger and chutzpah to fill in, but he wasn’t selected, though he will remain in contention for the small-format World Cup next year.

Meantime, Gill has snuck into the team, as vice captain, which means he might be tough to drop from Playing XI.