After Shubman Gill was appointed as India’s Test captain ahead of the England tour, a former national selector tried to tarnish the image of legendary Rahul Dravid, who was associated with the Punjab lad from his Under-19 days to becoming one of India’s next superstars.
In a sensational revelation, a former selector has accused Rahul Dravid of putting his weight behind Shubman Gill’s meteoric rise at the cost of another bright Indian talent. He claimed that Dravid influenced selection calls to fast-track Gill while pushing back the deserved opportunity of Anmolpreet Singh during his tenure as the NCA chief and India A coach.
The right-handed batter had won the 2018 Under-19 World Cup under Prithvi Shaw’s captaincy, and at that time Dravid was the coach. From that time, the legendary cricketer witnessed Gill’s skill and potential. Less than a year later, he made his India debut against New Zealand, thanks to Dravid.
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In 2019, Anmolpreet Singh had delivered a stellar domestic season and had strong backing from the national selectors to board the India A flight to England, but Dravid intervened and requested the selectors to select Gill.
The former selector revealed that they couldn’t ignore Dravid’s request, as he was India A head coach as well as NCA head at that time.
Dravid, who later became the Indian cricket team's head coach, was proved right in judging Shubman Gill’s talent.
The right-handed batter had a memorable England tour followed by a series against West Indies A that earned him a place in the ODI squad for the New Zealand tour in 2019.
A year later, he made a stunning debut on the Australia tour in 2020, and then he never looked back.
We couldn't turn down Rahul Dravid's request: Ex-Indian selector
A former national selector was quoted as saying by PTI, “Anmolpreet Singh had a great season, and one of the five selectors was bent on putting him on that flight. Anmol had runs in domestic cricket, and his choice would have been justified. Now Rahul (Dravid), who was the NCA head and India A coach, had a request for the selectors.”
He added, “Rahul, everyone knows, is polite to a fault. He had just one request for the panel. He said, 'Please select this boy Shubman Gill and accommodate Anmol for another A tour.' We couldn't turn down his request, and Shubman, within months of the U-19 World Cup triumph, was in the India A team.”
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Shubman Gill to make his captaincy debut on England tour
However, this revelation raised questions about fairness, favoritism, and hidden politics in team selection, as Dravid is a reputed and respected figure in the cricket world.
Notably, Dravid resigned from his position as head coach after guiding India to a historic 2024 ICC T20 World Cup triumph.
Notably, Gill will begin his journey as India’s new Test captain on the England tour next month.
The young brigade will travel to England for a five-match Test series, starting on June 20 at Headingley, without Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who retired from the longest format of the game earlier this month.
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