"He hasn't reached Shubman Gill's level yet" - Kris Srikkanth's stunning statement on Team India star after AUS vs IND 2025 1st T20I

Former Indian captain Kris Srikkanth weighed in on left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh constantly missing out from the playing XI after the latter's most recent exclusion in the opening T20I against Australia in Canberra. Srikkanth believes that despite excellent T20I numbers, Arshdeep hasn't reached Shubman Gill's level to be selected in the side, irrespective of circumstances.

Gill has been backed by the Indian management for leadership roles in Tests and T20Is over the past year despite stretches of poor form. The right-hander eventually repaid the thinktank's vote of confidence with an incredible Test series in England, scoring 754 runs at an average of over 75 with four centuries.

Talking about Arshdeep's regular exclusion even from the Indian T20I XI after the series opener against Australia, Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel (7:58):

"Unfortunately for Arshdeep Singh, he hasn't reached Shubman Gill's level yet in the team combination. That's where a person like Shubman Gill scores over an Arshdeep Singh. Shubman Gill was dropped even in the Test series in Australia. But then he was made the captain and he did brilliantly in England."

Srikkanth continued:

"Even T20Is, he didn't score for a long time. Yet, he played superbly today. So the thought process with a guy like Shubman Gill probably was to give him as many chances and hope one day he'll be a big leader and win matches."

Arshdeep played in only two out of India's seven matches in the recent 2025 Asia Cup. This is despite the pacer being India's all-time leading wicket-taker in T20Is with 101 scalps at an average of under 19 in 65 games.

"It mainly happens to bowlers" - Kris Srikkanth

Kris Srikkanth admitted that bowlers are usually given less leeway compared to batters when it comes to selection. The Men in Blue excluded Ravindra Jadeja and Varun Chakaravarthy from their ODI squad for the recently concluded Australian series despite their stellar performances in the Champions Trophy earlier in the year.

Furthermore, one of India's best all-format bowlers, Kuldeep Yadav, has repeatedly found himself outside the playing XI due to team balance.

"It mainly happens to bowlers. There is always an extra leeway given to batters because it's a batsmen-dominated game, especially the white-ball formats. So preferences always go to batters, nothing can be done about it," said Srikkanth (via the aforementioned source).

He concluded:

"Take Kuldeep himself, he bowled brilliantly in the Champions Trophy , but did not play in England. Likewise, even ODIs, he didn't play the first two games. Same way, Varun Chakravarthy and Ravindra Jadeja won India the Champions Trophy but were left out of the ODI squad itself."

Meanwhile, the opening T20I against Australia was washed out due to persistent rain after India raced to 97/1 in the 10th over.