‘Tall and fast’: Shubman Gill picks pacers for 2027 World Cup

Indian bowler Gurnoor Brar celebrates the wicket of New Zealand’s Tim Seifert during a one-day international cricket match in Auckland, New Zealand, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. (AP) When the ball stops swinging and the pitch offers nothing above the surface, how do you trouble an international batsman? For Shubman Gill, the formula is simple: sheer height, raw pace and sheer bounce.On the eve of India’s opening ODI against New Zealand at Auckland’s Eden Park, the Indian captain revealed the plan for India’s recent pace-bowling auditions, with high jumps on board as the top priority with a view to the 2027 World Cup in South Africa.“When the ball gets old, when there’s not a lot of seam or swing movement, then how do you challenge the batter?” Gill said. “You can either attack the batter if there’s something in the inning … or you can attack the batter with tempo and rebound.In recent times, several fast bowlers including Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana and newcomer Gurnoor Brar have represented India in the 50-over scheme of things. (km/h) when the gate is flat.“I’ve played a lot in the middle pitches and I’ve seen that if those pitchers can hit the right spots — obviously hitting the right areas is key — if the tall fast bowlers can hit the right spots, it’s a lot harder to score runs than someone who’s hitting 130-135. You’ve got to be really accurate with your shots. You’ve got to really be able to score against somebody who’s in the game 0-4 6’1″, 6’2″, 6’3”. There is a lot more risk when you try to score freely against a bowler like that,” Gill said.India’s big worry ahead of the 2027 World Cup is the fitness of their key seam-bowling all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who has been out of action since IPL 2026 due to a series of injuries and warts.Describing Hardik’s skill set as hard to replace, Gill said the team had kept in touch with him and hoped he would return to domestic cricket before returning to the national team.“First of all, he’s a great player,” Gill emphasized. “The qualities he brings to the team, not many players in the world have the qualities to be able to have an all-round fast bowler who can play (at any stage) new-ball games, middle overs and death overs; and the kind of batting he has. Hopefully we’ll see him back soon.”However, the captain would prefer a different set-up for the New Zealand tour, with an ODI series sandwiched between T20Is and two Tests. The tight turnaround means several members of the Test squad, including Gill, will miss the fourth and fifth ODIs. Meanwhile, Jasprit Bumrah has rested the entire ODI series.With the ODI World Cup and World Test Championship final scheduled for 2027, Gill felt that India could have benefited from the strongest combinations available for both formats in the ongoing tour.“If it was in my hands and all the players were fit, I would like all the players we are looking at to play the entire ODI series during the World Cup. But the two Test matches are also very important,” he said.

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