India national cricket team T20I vice-captain, Shubman Gill, flopped on his return to international cricket as he was dismissed on a low score by Proteas right-arm fast bowler Lungi Ngidi.
Team India and Team South Africa are facing each other in the first match of the T20 series on Tuesday, December 9 at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack.
Shubman Gill was out on the third ball of the match.
Gill suffered a neck injury at the start of India’s 2025 tour of South Africa. He suffered a neck injury during the first Test of the series in Kolkata and missed the next red-ball match in Guwahati.
Then, the Indian ODI captain was ruled out of all three 50-over matches against the South Africa national cricket team as he continued his rehabilitation program at the BCCI Center of Excellence.
Recently, he got clearance from the BCCI doctors, and made his return to competitive cricket in the first T20I match of the series against the Proteas.
Gill came into the game under pressure to perform when many players were waiting and he failed miserably with the bat.
The right-handed batsman hit a powerful four in the first over, but he became the victim of Lungi Ngidi on the third ball of the same over.
Ngidi bowled a length ball on middle and leg to Gill, who went down the track to hit the ball over mid-off, but did not make a good connection and was caught by Marco Jansson.
He managed to score 4 runs off just 2 balls before walking back to the dugout and facing brutal online trolling for yet another failure in T20I cricket.
This is how fans reacted to Shubman Gill’s flop show:
Shubhman Gill’s downfall continues
– RohitNation (@Yatharth_6609) 9 December 2025
Shubman Gill is no longer suitable for T20i.#INDvSA #shubhmangil
ā Mahesh Mahala (@maheshkumar_045) 9 December 2025
Talented players like Ruturaj Gaikwad and Sanju Samson are warming the bench so that parchi power forward Shubman Gill can enter the XI. The man averages 25 in T20Is, but somehow he still gets a VIP pass in the team. pic.twitter.com/9XeYeRUVpQ
– SrijanīØ (@LegendDhonii) 9 December 2025
Team selection was delayed because the selectors knew that if Ruturaj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal got regular opportunities, they would perform better than Shubman Gill.
God is watching everything. pic.twitter.com/IxzvrBiY9X
– Selflessā“āµ (@SelflessCricket) 9 December 2025
Parchi Gill was out on the second ball.
-Honest CSK Fan (@AnanthuP10144) 9 December 2025
Shubham Gill was out after scoring 4 runs on the very first ball.
4(2)
200 strike rate.
How much improvement in strike rate?#INDvSA pic.twitter.com/htQMgOu4yZ– retroloofs (@karan_kuma12510) 9 December 2025
Completely ineligible player Shubman Gill out for 4(2) Sanju Samson should get justice #shubhmangil #sanjusamson #INDvSA
ā Dr.Deepak Jain (@Deepakjain1827) 9 December 2025
Brother, Shubman Gill deserves to be in the T20 team…trust me brother… pic.twitter.com/e6n9yJslXp
– Rishi (@7_rishiii_22) 9 December 2025
Only this clumsy management can make Shubhman Gill an opener for India in T20..Stupid..@bcci #INDvSA
– Param (@param22twit) 9 December 2025
Shubman Gill asked to play like Virat Kohli in T20I cricket
In a video shared on his official YouTube channel, former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan suggested Shubman Gill to play like Virat Kohli in T20I cricket and stay in a good mental state.
Irfan Pathan said, “I want to see Shubman Gill’s mental state in T20 cricket. It is important that Gill should not bat the way Abhishek Sharma and other explosive batsmen are doing. He should bat as per the situation and demand of the team, because he is that kind of player. Over the years I have seen Virat Kohli playing T20 cricket, Gill can also base his game in the same way and move forward.”
“Look, there will be some big matches where Abhishek Sharma will try to perform big and get out early. So, you need consistency there, and Shubman Gill can provide it. But, it is important that Shubman Gill does not get confused. If he is confused, it will be a big problem for him. He is not Abhishek Sharma, he is not Suryakumar Yadav, he is not a 360-degree player, he is not MS Dhoni. He is not the type of player who can hit big sixes. Yes. Go-go,” he added.
Also read: Indian women’s squad announced for Sri Lanka T20I series; Smriti Mandhana’s selection
