Gujarat Titans head coach Ashish Nehra has come out in support of Shubman Gill, who is under the scanner for his form in T20Is. According to him, the batter shouldn’t be judged based on a few innings in a volatile T20 format. Gill returned to the T20 format with the Asia Cup 2025 and has scored 181 runs in the last 10 games at a strike rate of below 140. Nehra, who has worked with Shubman in the Indian Premier League (IPL), was asked about the performance of the batter and whether he is worried, considering IPL is three months away.

“I wouldn’t have been worried if the IPL was just three weeks away. You are talking about the T20 format. Only two matches have been played against South Africa,” Nehra told PTI.

Nehra is not in favour of passing judgments on players like Shubman Gill after a couple of games.

“This is the problem. In a fast-paced tournament, if a player like Shubman Gill is judged after failing in two or three games, then it becomes difficult,” Nehra added.

Nehra took a dig at critics. “You have got a lot of options. You can remove Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma, and you can open with Ruturaj Gaikwad and Sai Sudharsan. If you want to remove Sai and Ruturaj, you can open with Ishan Kishan and Washington Sundar. You have many options,” he mentioned.

“You can’t ask for changes after a few games. If you lose one of two matches and if the batters and bowlers haven’t done well and if you ask for their removal, it will be difficult.”

Nehra also opened up on Washington Sundar’s role, as he has been used in different batting slots. “He can bat at any slot between 1 and 6 or 7. If the pitch is helping the bowlers, Washington Sundar becomes a complete package. He has bowled well with the new ball in the powerplay overs. He is only 25-26, and his experience is now helping him to perform. I hope he stays in form next year, and he will play more games in the IPL.”