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A Gill question in an otherwise simple call
As the selectors pick the squad for the T20 World Cup, the form of the skipper and vice-captain will be up for discussion
Mumbai: Given the recent record of the India team in T20Is under captain Suryakumar Yadav, team selection for the upcoming World Cup should be a straightforward exercise. Starting with the series in Sri Lanka in July, 2024, India has won all the six series including the Asia Cup.
However, when the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee meets on Saturday to pick the Indian team squad for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 and the T20I series against New Zealand in January, due to form issues they will feel the need to spend extra time deliberating on the players they have backed in the lead up to the home World Cup.
When the form of two top-order players is a concern, any selection committee will take a hard look at the combination. In this case, India’s worry is the low returns of their captain Surya and Shubman Gill.
Having gone so far and so close to the World Cup, it won’t be wise to make any changes to the set of players picked for the South Africa series, but there’s definitely a case of tinkering with the original plans.
For all the calls made by Agarkar & Co, not everyone is convinced about Gill’s T20 selection. There’s a debate whether it was needed at all.
The brand of cricket that Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson were playing as opening pair was blowing away oppositions.
The selectors, in their wisdom, decided to bring in Gill for the Asia Cup. The opener, who missed the final T20I against South Africa due to a foot injury, is yet to score a fifty in 15 innings since his T20I return, missing out on some promising starts. In the ongoing T20I series against South Africa, he had scores of 4, 0 and 28.
In the final T20I against South Africa on Friday, the Abhishek-Samson opening pair was back and so was India’s intimidation factor.
Samson took the opportunity to prove a point to the selectors and make a strong case to seal his spot in the World Cup squad with an opening partnership of 63 in 5.4 overs with Abhishek.
While the star opener Abhishek, who made a typical 21-ball 34, looks a guaranteed starter in the tournament, the spot of his opening partner isn’t set in stone yet.
Gill’s effectiveness as a T20 batter lies in pacing his innings and he does that well for Gujarat Titans in the IPL. But he seems to be trying to play big shots from ball one. In the 2025 IPL season, he aggregated 650 runs at an average of 50 – strike rate 155.88. Either he sticks to the GT stylesheet or the selectors will have to look for other options.
And it’s not just about Samson, who hit a 22-ball 37 on Friday. There are other deserving players pushing for the opener’s spot. Jharkhand’s Ishan Kishan has served a timely reminder to the selectors with a superb show in the T20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Kishan was the outstanding batter of the 2025 SMAT, hitting a century in the final to finish as the top run-getter with 517 runs at a strike rate of 197.32. The left-handed batter smashed the most number of sixes (33) in the competition too.
However, Ishan is also an opening batter and Samson will be the first choice after Gill. At best, Ishan can hope for a place in the series against New Zealand and if he does well the selectors can have him in their back-up plans.
Captain Surya’s lean run has added to the pressure on Gill as the team can’t risk having two batters struggling for form in the top order.
If the selectors decide to touch Gill then it will be a chain reaction, mainly around the wicket-keeper’s position.
Jitesh Sharma’s position also comes under scrutiny. Both Samson and Jitesh were part of the playing XI in the fifth T20I but Jitesh will have to do more with the bat to justify his place when Samson is picked. Jitesh has played some cameos since coming into the team in place of Samson in the Australia series, but he has yet to play an impact innings, his highest score being 27 in four innings.
In the lower order, the selectors had persisted with Rinku Singh till recently for the finisher’s role but against South Africa, they picked Washington Sundar ahead of Rinku. The think tank has realised that on India’s pitches they will be better with an extra spin option of Sundar.
Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel are going to be the three main spinners backed by Washington. The pace unit will be led by Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana, with all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube acting as back-ups.
