The significance of the moment didn’t hit immediately when Shubman Gill tweaked something in his neck when he went for a regulation sweep shot in the first Test against South Africa, but its ramifications were huge. He had to pull out of that game as India lost that Test narrowly and Dale Steyn would later talk about how luck perhaps favoured South Africa as Gill might have led India to a win, otherwise. And India were wiped aside in the next Test, leading to a crushing whitewash. It set the cat among the pigeons during the ODI series that followed the Tests. Especially when Virat Kohli hit two statement-making hundreds in his combative style. Suddenly, the white noise engulfed Indian cricket. The noose tightened on the coach Gautam Gambhir and his choice of rank-turner of a pitch at Kolkata in that first Test and his choice of personnel in the second Test. It was forgotten how India had both Kohli and Rohit Sharma in its ranks when New Zealand ambushed them 3-0 in Tests at home, and Australia beat them down under. The coach Gambhir did warrant criticism for his choices of pitch and playing XI, but that didn’t mean the extravagant criticisms and call for Kohli and Rohit to be back in Tests was correct. Rumours even spread how Kohli was ready to come back and he squashed it in the post-game interaction after the first ODI at Raipur. The noise then ratcheted up on how he and Sharma were unnecessarily forced to play domestic cricket. Again, senseless arguments considering the move remains a sensible one, especially considering how the ODI World Cup is still almost a couple of years away, and being in regular touch won’t harm either of the two superstars. Had Shubman Gill played in those two games and if India had won one or both, then it’s fair to say that the ODI series would just have been seen as a benchmark to see the fitness and form of the two veterans. Already, the Test retirements had seen good things – Rohit certainly has gotten fitter and Kohli has looked that much hungrier. To misplace results on flatbeds on ODIs to question the entire Test selection was principally wrong. Rohit had been off boil in Tests for a while and Kohli’s failures in Tests have lasted a few years. All that hullabaloo might not have occurred had Gill not gone down on his knee on that fateful day in Kolkata. 2025 has been a great year in Indian cricket as far as striking down star culture goes – be it Kohli and Rohit’s Test retirements or the non-selection of Gill in the T20 World Cup team. It’s something to be appreciated and silly handwringing can be best avoided.
2025 Reimagined: What if… Shubman Gill had not suffered a neck spasm in the first Test against South Africa
