Former Team India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has given a suggestion to Shubman Gill before the IPL 2026 season. Ashwin urged Gill to maintain his natural batting rather than chasing staggering strike rates on a massive scale.
The upcoming Indian Premier League campaign is going to be very important for the star Indian batsman as he was dropped from the T20I squad after he was named as the deputy to Suryakumar Yadav.
It is widely believed that the selection committee dropped Gill due to his comparatively low strike rate. With Gujarat Titans in the 2026 season, the Punjab batsman may try to prove those who think he is not ideal to represent India in the shortest format of the game.
BCCI has appointed Shubman Gill as the vice-captain of India’s T20 team.
During the preparations for the T20 World Cup 2026, the Indian team management appointed Shubman Gill as the vice-captain of the T20I set-up. To accommodate the batsman at the top of the order, the management would either remove Sanju Samson from the playing combination or pull him down in the batting order.
The efforts made by the Gautam Gambhir-led management ultimately went in vain as Gill’s overall performance was not good enough to satisfy the management.
R Ashwin asks Shubman Gill to score a lot of runs in IPL 2026 season to strengthen his side
This was definitely a blow to the pride of Shubman Gill as he is the captain of India’s Test and ODI teams. Ravichandran Ashwin said that the 26-year-old player is a batsman in all formats and if he can maintain his form, he can make a comeback in the T20 team.
Ravichandran Ashwin said on his YouTube channel Ash, “To get him out in Ahmedabad, he has become like a don these days; it is quite difficult to get him out. So, I think Shubman Gill has nothing to worry about, and if I were in his place, I would tell myself to go out and plunder runs once again. The best way to keep yourself going is to score a lot of runs. He will be the best batsman for GT.”
Ashwin suggests that batsmen should perform as per the needs of the team
Ashwin further explains that Gill can score runs for Gujarat Titans (GT) without a tremendous strike rate. The former cricketer asked Gill to perform as per the requirements of GT. The team may have to struggle a lot without the in-form Shubman.
Ashwin further said, “I have no doubt that Shubman will go about his batting business like last year. If Shubman continues to chase the strike rate and does not score runs, GT will have to struggle big. I hope he will not do that. He can score runs without chasing a high strike rate.”
The right-handed batsman was in great form for Gujarat in the IPL 2025 season, scoring 650 runs in 15 matches at an average of 50.00. During this period his strike rate was 155.87.
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