Chief selector Ajit Agarkar cited Gill’s lean patch—recent scores of 4, 0, and 28 against South Africa—and a strategic pivot to explosive openers, sidelining his accumulation style for high-impact starts.
This ruthless call prioritizes strike rates in powerplays, where Gill’s 137.26 lags behind T20 demands, signaling selectors’ zero tolerance for reputation without runs.Ishan Kishan’s explosive recall steals the show, his Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy heroics (517 runs at nearly 200 strike rate) earning a top-order keeper slot over Jitesh Sharma, while freeing space for finisher Rinku Singh.
Suryakumar Yadav retains captaincy with Axar Patel as deputy, backed by a power-packed core: Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, and dual spinners Kuldeep Yadav-Varun Chakravarthy.
Yashasvi Jaiswal’s omission hurts, but the lineup screams balance—pace from Bumrah-Arshdeep-Rana, all-round depth from Axar-Washington Sundar—crafted for Sri Lanka-India conditions.This squad gambles big on aggression and flexibility, ditching Gill’s consistency for Kishan-Rinku’s fireworks to chase back-to-back titles.
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