'Gill was the second-best option before them'- Manoj Tiwary on India's Test skipper

The IPL is slowly coming to an end, and the next upcoming event will be the England vs India five-match Test series. The Indian squad has been announced and will be led by young India star batter Shubman Gill. Former India cricketer  Manoj Tiwary has also given his insights on the decision made by the selection committee.

So far, there has been a mixed response towards Shubman Gill being named as the Indian team’s Test skipper. However, Tiwary has made a bold claim that Gill was the second-best available option as Test skipper. Tiwary went on to criticise Gill’s stats in red-ball cricket and said that his average in red-ball cricket is below par and does not guarantee a place in the playing XI. 

“As expected, Shubman Gill has been named Test captain. However, there isn’t a single player right now who is an automatic pick in India’s Test XI. Gill was the second-best option before them (selectors). So that’s why he’s been made the captain. There’s nobody who has a permanent place (in the current Test team). He was the second-best available (name),” Tiwary stated on Cricbuzz.

“If you look at his average…how can you make someone captain whose place in the playing XI isn’t certain? It’s because he was the second-best option. That’s why they’ve invested in him," the 2012 IPL winner concluded.

Gill's stats in Test cricket

Speaking of Gill’s performance in Test cricket, he started his career in the five-day format from 2020 against Australia during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He has played 32 matches so far and has scored 1893 runs at an average of 35.05. He has scored five centuries and seven half-centuries in the prestigious format.

His last series was also against Australia, where he had an underwhelming series with the bat in the three matches he played. Gill could only manage to score 93 runs at an average of 18.60 and could not get a single 50+ score in the games he featured in.