No toxic competition between Jaiswal, Abhishek and me, insists Gill

No toxic competition between Jaiswal, Abhishek and me, insists Gill
No toxic competition between Jaiswal, Abhishek and me, insists Gill

New Delhi: Yashasvi Jaiswal and Abhishek Sharma’s impressive performances might have increased competition for places at the top of India’s batting order, but it hasn’t descended into a toxic fight, insisted ODI vice-captain Shubman Gill.

Jaiswal has scored runs across all formats while Sharma clubbed India’s highest score in T20Is, in their 4-1 series victory over England.

With skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli back in the team for the ODI series beginning on Thursday, India have a lot of options for the top-order that means at least one player would be left out of the playing XI.

“Abhishek is a childhood of friend of mine. Jaiswal is also a friend, I don’t think there is any toxic competition between us. Obviously if you are playing for the country, you want to perform in every match, and not think that ‘I wish this guy doesn’t perform’.

“You are playing for the country and for the team and whosoever performs you congratulate them,” Gill said on Tuesday in Nagpur.

The 25-year-old also said that since England are a good side, they have to be on their toes as these three matches are what they have before the Champions Trophy, which begins on February 19.

“We are playing against a good side and three ODIs and we are not taking this as a practice for Champions Trophy as it is a very important series for us and we are looking to dominate and win this series like any other series,” he said.

‘Australia failure does not define the whole team’

Gill also felt that the team shouldn’t be judged solely on their performance in the Border-Gavaskar series that they lost 1-3 in Australia.

India’s batting order comprising Rohit, Kohli, Gill KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant all flopped and they return to the ODI squad for the England series before flying off to Dubai for the Champions Trophy.

“One series does not define the form of the whole team. There are a lot of players who, in the past, have performed consistently in a lot of series and tournaments,” Gill said.

“Definitely, we did not play as per our expectations in the Australian series, but still we played some good cricket. We were unfortunate not to have (Jasprit) Bumrah on the last day and we would have won the match and the series would have been a draw and this talk wouldn’t have happened.

“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.”

 Shubman Gill acknowledged that India have a lot of options for the top-order that has sparked competition for places within the team  Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today