Gill is struggling for runs in the ongoing West Indies tour while Surya is yet to a mark in ODIs.
The stylish right-hander also went to smash a Test century against Australia in the fourth Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test at Ahmedabad in March.
Gill then carried on his brilliant form in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 season. Playing for Gujarat Titans (GT), he finished the tournament as the highest run-getter with 890 runs to his name from 17 innings, including three hundreds.
Since then, Shubman’s form has taken a hit. He managed to register scores of 13 and 18 in the WTC final against Australia and then amassed 45 runs from his three outings in the two-match Test series versus West Indies.
Gill also failed with the bat in the first two ODIs against West Indies, scoring 7 and 34. However, India head coach Rahul Dravid is not concerned about the young opener’s form.
“I won’t worry much about Shubman Gill. He is batting beautifully. He is playing really well. He looks really good. It can happen,” Dravid told reporters after the second ODI in Barbados on July 29.
“You can’t criticise people after every single game. You know these things can happen. It’s not easy batting conditions, let’s be honest. We needed to grind and find our way out there. We probably didn’t do that through the middle overs.
“Shubman is batting well and he is a very important part of I guess all the three formats of the game for us now. Hopefully, he will have a good game in Trininad,” he added.
Dravid also defended swashbuckling batter Suryakumar Yadav, who is yet to prove his worth in the 50-over format.
As opposed to T20 cricket, where he has taken the cricketing world by storm with his dazzling exploits, Suryakumar averages only 23.80 in ODIs after 25 games.
However, the India coach thinks Surya hasn’t played enough ‘competitive matches’ when it comes to one-day format and hence he’s still learning.
“I think Surya is a really good player, there’s no doubt about it," Dravid said. “His performances have shown that specially in T20 cricket, even in domestic white-ball cricket, he has some very good performances."
In the ongoing ODI series against West Indies, Surya has managed to score 19 and 24 in the two innings.
“Even he (Suryakumar) would be the first one to admit that his ODI numbers probably haven’t been up to his high standards that he has set in T20. He’ probably learning one-day cricket. He has played a lot of IPL, lot of competitive T20 cricket before India debut but in terms of one-day cricket, he probably hasn’t that much - there’s no IPL in one-day cricket. So he’s learning, figuring out how to bat through those middle overs," Dravid stated, before hinting that the team management will be giving him a long rope.
“He’s talented, a really good player. So we are giving him as many opportunities as we can. It’s really up to him now to use those opportunities. But yeah, in the kind of setup we are, we like to give as many chances as we can," he remarked.