“Aise karenge to bahut mushkil hogi” - Ashish Nehra defends India star after back-to-back flops in IND vs SA 2025 T20Is

Former Indian pacer Ashish Nehra has come out in support of Shubman Gill following the latter's consecutive failures in the ongoing five-match T20I series against South Africa. He urged patience, stressing that a player of Gill’s calibre can’t be judged only after two or three matches.

Nehra added that the Men in Blue have plenty of options to open in the T20 format, including Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ishan Kishan, but they should back their first-choice players. Interestingly, the 46-year-old also picked Washington Sundar as an option to open in T20Is.

The Gujarat Titans (GT) head coach told PTI (via The Times of India):

“Look, the player you are talking about. If IPL was 3 weeks away, I wouldn't be worried. Because you are talking about T20 format. And there are only 2 matches played with South Africa. If I am not wrong. And this is our problem. In such a fast-paced format, whether it is international cricket or IPL, if we start evaluating players like Gill after two-three matches, then it will be difficult.”

“You have many options, if you want to see. You can remove Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill. You can open with Sai Sudharsan and Ruturaj Gaikwad. If you want to remove them, you can do it with Washington Sundar and Ishan Kishan. So options are always there if there are talks about changing players after not good stats, but aise karege to bahut mushkil hogi (If we do this like this, then it would be difficult),” he added.

Nehra’s statement came after Gill departed for 4 (2) and 0 (1) by Lungi Ngidi in the first two T20Is against the Proteas. Gill had earlier scored 132 runs in five innings at a strike rate of 136.08 during a five-match T20I series in Australia.

“Can happen when you are short of form” – India’s assistant coach backs Shubman Gill despite consecutive failures in IND vs SA 2025 T20Is

Team India’s assistant coach Ryan Ten Doeschate earlier defended Shubman Gill following his golden duck in the second T20I against South Africa. The 45-year-old pointed out that Gill has a terrific record in the IPL, while lauding him for his class with the bat. The coach said in the post-match press conference (via ANI):

“I saw some good signs of a change in mentality on the back end of that Australian tour (in Shubman). Even with these two dismissals in this series, in the first game we asked the guys to go out and attack on the power play, and the wicket was not very great at Cuttack.”

“So I will let him go off with that one. Today, he got out to a great ball. This can happen when you are short on form. But we also believe in his class. If you look at his IPL records, he has stacked 600-700-800 runs, and he will come good," he added.

Shubman Gill will next be seen in action as India lock horns with South Africa in the third T20I in Dharamsala on Sunday, December 14.