Shubman Gill’s poor performance with the bat in white-ball cricket has gone on. The Indian vice-captain was out for 5 in the second T20I against Australia in Melbourne on Friday. Against Josh Hazlewood, Gill tried to hit a lofted shot but it went straight to Mitchell Marsh at mid-off, thereby increasing his poor streak with the bat.
After seeing Shubman Gill's performance in T20I, I'm literally feeling bad for Yashasvi Jaiswal 😶🌫️ pic.twitter.com/F0RzHswfQM
— Richard Kettleborough (@RichKettle07) October 31, 2025
The 26-year-old opening batsman has been in a bad run of form. After a disappointing Asia Cup 2025, Gill had only 43 runs in three ODIs against Australia. His T20I records have also not been good — only 169 runs in nine innings since his return to the shortest format in September 2025. Now, his difficulties have become so that his name is being mentioned a lot on social media in connection with the replacement of Yashasvi Jaiswal for the top position along with Abhishek Sharma.
After Shubman Gill departs, Abhishek stands tall amid top-order collapse
When the rest of India's batters were struggling, Abhishek Sharma alone went all out with a very determined 68 off 37 balls. He seemed as much a man as a boy and showed both his strength and his skill throughout his rapid innings. It was very important for India to score 125 even though it was just a bare minimum after the knockout fold had occurred with the last ball number 8 remaining away from the over. Abhishek’s innings was the only one that shined as the Australian pacers, among them Josh Hazlewood (3/13), were on a rampage under the MCG lights.
The left-hander played some crazy shots through the off-side – slashes, check drives, and lofted strokes – Timur Qarshi completed his half-century off only 23 balls in his very first visit to MCG. His counterattack gave India a glimmer of hope even as wickets kept tumbling at the other end.
Harshit Rana, who was promoted to No. 7, provided some brief support to him as the two batters combined for 56 runs partnership at the seventh wicket. Still, nine out of the Indian batsmen did not manage to score double figures, which is indicative of the top-order collapse that has happened.
He got some support from Harshit Rana, who was promoted to No.7, as the two of them put together 56 runs for the seventh wicket. But, the fact that nine Indian batters did not get to double figures shows just how severely the top-order has collapsed.
Abhishek’s manner to work the pitch and get the ball off the tough side of the bat was very impressive. Nevertheless, he was quite angry with the partners in the dressing room during the final part of the innings as they were finding it hard to rotate the strike. At one point, he went close to five overs without receiving a ball as Rana, then Shivam Dube and Kuldeep Yadav, took balls without scoring quickly.
After the team was six down for 110, Abhishek once more took initiative by smashing a six off Xavier Bartlett and then hitting him for a boundary to take India to 125. But his innings alone was not enough to stop India from crumbling under pressure.
Hazlewood was on the money all through as he bowled lengths ideal for Test-match in the 6-8m channel, bringing the ball movement off the seam as well as the bounce which troubled Indian top-order. He hit Gill with a fast bouncer to set him up and then Gill ended up playing a mistimed chip shot. Shortly after that, Nathan Ellis got Sanju Samson (2) trapped LBW, and Hazlewood went back to remove Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma in rapid succession with deliveries that were very difficult to play.
The Indian batters, who were barely there, had some moments of fight but mostly they were down to struggle, eventually, they were all out for 125 — only Abhishek Sharma’s valiant innings was the silver lining in the sky of a very bleak turnaround.
