Shubman Gill faces flak for benching Karun Nair in Manchester Test: 'Chance missed to earn respect'

India captain Shubman Gill came under fire on the opening day of the fourth Test against England , not just for perishing early with the bat for the third consecutive time but also for failing to back senior teammate Karun Nair.

Nair, after all, was benched in the fourth Test at Manchester after featuring in the first three Tests of the five-match series, with the team management opting to bring B Sai Sudharsan back into the XI.

Kaif comes to Nair’s support after Vidarbha batter is benched at Old Trafford

And former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif was among those who felt Nair should have been back for at least one more game before getting relegated to the bench at Old Trafford, where India find themselves in a must-win situation in their quest for a first series win on English soil in 18 years.

“Today was Shubman Gill’s chance to back karun who was down but deserved one more chance. He should have picked Karun Nair. Chance missed to earn the respect when it comes to making tough decisions as a leader,” Kaif wrote on X on Wednesday.

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Today was Shubman Gill's chance to back karun who was down but deserved one more chance. He should have picked Karun Nair. Chance missed to earn the respect when it comes to making tough decisions as a leader.

— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) July 23, 2025

Both Sudharsan and Nair had played the series opener at Headingley, at No 3 and No 6 respectively. The visitors, however, opted to bring in an extra all-rounder in Washington Sundar in the lower middle-order in the second Test at Edgbaston, forcing them to choose Nair over Sudharsan and moving him to No 3 in the process.

Nair, however, had collected just 131 runs in three Tests at an average of 21.83 with a top-score of 40  – going past the 30-mark just twice in the series.

The Vidarbha batter, who was rewarded for a red-hot run in domestic cricket, was retained in the XI for the third Test at Lord’s despite failing to convert promising starts in the series. Skipper Gill and head coach Gautam Gambhir, however, ran out of patience after Nair collected just 54 runs across two innings at the ‘Home of Cricket’.

Also returning to the Indian XI for the first time since the series opener in Leeds was all-rounder Shardul Thakur, who replaced the injured Nitish Kumar Reddy. Additionally, Anshul Kamboj made his international debut in Manchester on Wednesday after replacing Akash Deep, who has also been ruled out of the remainder of the Test series due to injury.

Akash, who had starred in the victory in Birmingham, has a groin issue while Reddy has been ruled out due to a knee injury.