Gill is having a tough time with the bat in the ongoing white-ball tour of Australia.
Gill’s form continues to be a cause of concern in the T20I series as well. In the three innings so far, he has produced knocks 37*, 5 and 15. In fact, the 26-year-old is yet to hit a half-century ever since his return to T20I fold as vice-captain during the Asia Cup 2025.
No wonder, questions are being raised over Gill’s place in the Indian T20I XI as opener, with the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal waiting in the wings.
Amid the scrutiny, former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson has backed the "ridiculously talented" Shubman Gill to navigate through the challenge of switching and adjusting to different formats and overcome his inconsistent patch.
Before travelling to Australia, Gill led India in a couple of home Tests against the West Indies. He began the series with a composed 50 (100) on Ahmedabad's green top and slammed an unbeaten 129(196) on Delhi's benign surface.
"It definitely is a challenge, and the more you do it, the better you get at really understanding the little adjustments that you have to make to your technique, to your game plan, your mindset around each format to be able to then get into the best version of you every time you have to make that adjustment," Watson said while speaking to reporters.
"It does take time, and it's through trial and error that you really realise exactly what you need to do to make those adjustments, and playing in different conditions as well. Shubman Gill is a ridiculously talented batter. He's got an amazing technique," Watson added.
"It's not going to take him long at all to be able to really navigate his way through the different formats because when someone is as highly skilled as he is, it's not going to take him too long," he further remarked.
The T20I series between India and Australia is evenly poised at 1-1 with two matches still to be played. The penultimate T20I will be held in Queensland on November 6, while the series finale will take place in Brisbane on November 8.
Shubman Gill would be keen on leaving an impression by piling up runs on the board and end the Australia tour on a high note.
India’s T20I squad for Australia tour: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill (VC), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar.
(With ANI Inputs)