From the time the Border-Gavaskar Trophy came to an end, one of the debates about the Indian team was how long before Yashasvi Jaiswal made the ODI team. While it did not take long, as the youngster was included in the squad for the England ODIs and Champions Trophy, he is still a standby. For, India have their captain Rohit Sharma and vice-captain Shubman Gill at the top.

Although there is no one questioning Rohit’s place in the ODI team at this point, Gill has come under the lens. So much that arguments are made about how Jaiswal should take Gill’s place at the top given the latter’s poor run of form. There is no question that Gill had a horror series in Australia but in the ODI format, he has been the best opener in the last couple of years.

Since the start of 2023, Shubman Gill is second on the list of run-getters among openers with 1641 runs from 32 innings at 58.6 average and 102.8 strike rate. Dimuth Karunaratne is at the top with 1921 runs but has played 44 innings. Rohit is third on the list with 1400 runs at 51.85 with a SR of 120.27. In fact, he still comes third among all batters since 2023. And that is despite India playing only three of the 107 ODIs that were played in 2024.

Which is why, Gill had no hesitation in saying that one series loss doesn’t define the team or the players ahead of the first ODI against England in Nagpur on Tuesday. “One match and one day doesn’t define us, we won there twice before and earlier won a World Cup and then reached the final of a World Cup, so we should keep all those things in mind,” Gill said during a press conference in Nagpur on Tuesday.