Indian captain Shubman Gill has made a very poor start to his ODI career as the captain of the Indian team and has lost the first two series of his career. However, despite the loss, he jumped to the defense of Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav after the spinners faced criticism for their ineffective performance in the series.
India lost the series against New Zealand, and it was the third ODI bilateral series defeat in the Gautam Gambhir era. Hence, the once invincible team has not managed to overtake its opponents in recent times, which highlights Gambhir’s failure in the white-ball formats along with the dreadful performances in the red ball.
Indian spinners were largely blamed for India’s defeat, as the subcontinent’s pitches are favorable for spinners and they often play a major role in teams winning matches on these pitches. In contrast, New Zealand’s spinners remained economical, which helped their fast bowlers take wickets.
Shubman Gill comes to Ravindra Jadeja’s rescue after poor performance in New Zealand series
Veteran Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has come under criticism after his poor performance in the latest ODI series against New Zealand. Jadeja has been struggling to perform well with the ball since the South Africa home series.
Ravindra Jadeja remained wicketless throughout the series and averaged 60.66 from his 25 overs in the series. While his batting order is being scrutinized, his last half-century in India was against England in 2013. However, Jadeja is being promoted to number 1. Hopefully 6 will do more than just a cameo for India.
Gill said, “First of all, I think about Jaddu bhai. I don’t know how many matches he has played over the years, but in terms of his batting, he looked in good touch. I think all of us batsmen, especially, were not able to convert the starts we got. Whenever you play in India, you usually see high-scoring matches, and if the batsmen get starts but are not able to convert them into runs – at least two of them. – So it’s always difficult.”
Shubman Gill said about Kuldeep Yadav, “It is unfortunate that he could not take more wickets.”
After securing the veteran all-rounder and his form with the bat, the Indian captain stepped up to the rescue of spinner Kuldeep Yadav. Kuldeep has been India’s main strike bowler with 49 wickets in 30 matches since 2023, and also took 19 wickets in 11 matches in 2025.
He was chosen as the leading wicket-taker in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, but Daryl Mitchell has strategically sidelined him. However, Shubman Gill said that it was his misfortune not to take wickets in the series.
Gill said, “Sometimes such things happen. Kuldeep has been bowling very well for the last few years and has always been a strike bowler for us. It is unfortunate that he could not take as many wickets as he wanted, but in series like this you learn and grow.”
Shubman Gill’s disappointing start to his captaincy career in white ball cricket
Shubman Gill had a very poor start to his ODI career as captain of the Indian national cricket team. Gill made an impressive captaincy debut in the longest format of the game as he led India to a series draw in England, followed by a win against the West Indies at home.
However, he was appointed ODI captain replacing Rohit Sharma, and lost his first series against Australia in October and then missed the South Africa home series, where KL Rahul captained them to a 2–1 win.
Now Shubman Gill’s second series as captain of the Indian team has also ended in defeat and this could be a big blow to his captaincy future in limited overs cricket.
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