Former Indian batsman Subramaniam Badrinath came down heavily on Shubman Gill’s golden duck in the 2nd T20I against South Africa at the Maharaja Yadvindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur on December 11, 2025 on Star Sports Tamil. The 25-year-old opener, who was brought back into the side after a one-year T20I break and made vice-captain, was caught at first slip by Lungi Ngidi on the fifth ball of India’s chase of 214, adding to his woes—four runs off two balls in the first match and three single-digit scores in the last six innings.
South Africa scored 213/4 thanks to 90 runs from Quinton de Kock, in reply to which India were all out for 162 runs in 19.1 overs and lost by 51 runs, leaving the Proteas to level the series 1–1. Tilak Verma’s fighting 50 showed some fight, but Axar Patel’s 21 off 21 balls at No. 3 showed the chaos as the required run rate skyrocketed after Gill’s dismissal.
Badrinath lamented the exclusion of Sanju Samson, who has scored 417 runs at an impressive strike rate of 182 in 13 T20I innings since the 2024 World Cup win—including three centuries as an opener alongside Abhishek Sharma—yet he was moved into the middle order and later dropped from the team during the Australia tour to accommodate Gill. Badrinath fumed, “Sanju has three centuries in T20 cricket—what more do you want? It’s sad to see a player with such form benched.” He questioned Gill being given the captaincy: “Only a player with a solid place in the playing XI should get captaincy or vice-captaincy. He has got it with these stats—there is no dearth of T20 talent in India.” Reiterating the same point, former captain Chris Srikkanth criticized the “confused” selection under Gautam Gambhir, and compared Samson’s 183 SR to Gill’s 136 SR in 506 runs in 21 2025 innings. “Different things are being said in press conferences—Samson versus Jitesh? Gill is a good player, so more chances? There is no clarity,” fumed Srikkanth, questioning Akshar’s promotion: “They are making changes without thinking—where is the fairness in this?”
Batting coach Ryan ten Doeschate defended Gill, citing a change in mentality from the Australia tour: “There were good signs—don’t take getting out too seriously. Cuttack was tough; today, he got out on a good ball.” Yet, with the presence of Yashasvi Jaiswal (164 SR), the pressure has increased ahead of the decider in Dharamshala on December 14. Bringing back Gill disrupted the winning formula—now, accountability for results is required.
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