When the Indian team was announced on Saturday for the T20 World Cup 2026, everyone was surprised to not see Shubman Gill’s name in the 15-member squad. This was because Gill was the vice-captain of the team and there was no possibility of dropping him. Gill has emerged as the new face of Indian cricket in the last 6 months. After giving him the captaincy of the Test team, he was suddenly made Suryakumar Yadav’s deputy in the T20 team for the Asia Cup.
With Gill’s arrival in the T20 team, Sanju Samson had to be removed from the opening slot and sent to the middle order. Later Sanju was out of the playing XI. Jitesh Sharma had to be brought in to accommodate Gill as he could bat better than Sanju down the order. However, amid so much turmoil, Gill himself could not do anything special with the bat. He proved to be a huge flop in the two bilateral T20 series (Australia and South Africa) after the Asia Cup.
Gill scored only 291 runs in the 15 T20 matches played this year at an average of 24.25 and strike rate of 137.26. During this period no half-century came from his bat. His best score was 47. Despite his poor performance match after match, there was not even a whisper of him being dropped from the T20 World Cup team. But the selection committee headed by Ajit Agarkar has taken a bold decision and by dropping him, has proved that they do not shy away from taking big decisions.
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Photo Credit: PTI
Agarkar’s team should be praised
The selection committee and the Indian team management had made Gill the vice-captain of the T20 team. He was given ample opportunities amidst all the criticism. When Gill was also given the captaincy of the ODI team, it was considered certain that after the T20 World Cup, he would become the captain of the Indian team in all three formats. That is, looking at Gill’s growing stature, there were no questions about his playing the T20 World Cup, rather there was a wait to see when he would be made the captain of the T20 team, but suddenly everything changed.
Ajit Agarkar’s team decided to drop Gill and go with Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson, one of the most destructive opening pairs in the world in T20 Internationals. Gill’s ouster created space for Rinku Singh. Rinku can now be kept in the playing XI for the finishing role. With this combination, the Indian team has looked unbeatable in T20 cricket, and Agarkar’s team deserves praise for bringing it back.
Why was Gill out?
In the press conference after the announcement of the T20 World Cup squad, Agarkar clarified why Gill has been dropped. Agarkar told that not only was Gill struggling to score runs, he was also not able to fit into the team combination. According to the Chief Selector, during the selection of the Indian team, the team combination was kept in mind the most.
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What will be the team combination?
Team India will field in the upcoming T20 World Cup with the opening pair of Abhishek-Sanju. After this there will be Tilak Verma and captain Suryakumar Yadav. Hardik Pandya can play at number five or Akshar Patel can be promoted and sent to this batting position. Apart from Rinku, there will be Shivam Dubey and Washington Sundar in the lower middle order, who will be used depending on the pitch and conditions. The fast bowling unit consists of Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana. Apart from Akshar, the responsibility of spin department will be on Sundar, Varun Chakraborty and Kuldeep Yadav.
India’s 15-member squad:
Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Tilak Verma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dubey, Axar Patel (vice-captain), Rinku Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakraborty, Washington Sundar, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper)
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