Shubman Gill isn’t an opener, he is like VVS Laxman, should bat in middle-order: Former selector Gagan Khoda

Former India selector Gagan Khoda has stated that Shubman Gill is not an opener and should bat in the middle-order as he more like VVS Laxman.

The statement from the former India cricketer comes after India lost the World Test Championship (WTC) final by 8 wickets versus New Zealand on Wednesday. Gill scored 36 runs (28 and 8) in the historic match.

Khoda further added that Mayank Agarwal should have opened for India at the Rose Bowl in Southampton.

“It was not meant to be like this. Shubman Gill isn’t an opener. He is like VVS Laxman, he should bat in the middle-order. India should have picked Mayank Agarwal, who had only two bad Test matches. Even Prithvi Shaw was shown the door after just one failure in Australia,” Khoda told Sportskeeda.

Gagan Khoda also reckoned that Ravindra Jadeja was under bowled and a specialist batsman or a pace-bowling all-rounder could have played ahead of him for a better balance in the playing XI.

“India could have taken an extra batsman or a fast bowler who can bat. Someone like Shardul Thakur could have done the trick,” Khoda said.

However, after the conclusion of the match India captain Virat Kohli had said that the lack of a fast-bowling all-rounder meant India went in with their most experienced XI.

“You need to have a fast-bowling all-rounder for that. We’ve been successful with this combination in different conditions. We thought this was our best combination, and we had batting depth as well, and if there was more game time, the spinners would have come into the game more as well,” Kohli had said.