The exclusion of Shubman Gill from the T20 World Cup squad has raised many eyebrows; all this when he was just made the VC in the T20Is as well. It was to accommodate him at the top, that Sanju Samson was moved around in the batting order, only to come back at him as an opener, eventually.
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More than the exclusion itself, it is the circumstances that are being questioned. What was the need to get him in the T20I side at first, only to let him go. Some might say it was form, but then chief selector Ajit Agarkar clarified that it was only combination-based. After the announcement of the Team India squad for the T20 World Cup 2026, Agarkar said, “If your keeper is going to bat at the top, our thought was to have another keeper. Jitesh hasn’t done much wrong. We know how great Gill is.. It’s just about combination.”
Ajit Agarkar Argues, It Was Only About Combination
Further probed, if his recent run of poor form was the reason behind the axe, but Agarkar stayed put. “Some people are going to miss out on a particular format, because they are playing in another. Let’s not make much of it. Over the last few years, Gill has been the No.1 batter in the world. He knows what he has to do, he knows what’s needed and hopefully by the time the WC comes by, he’ll be back to being No.1.”
Even during the recently concluded IND vs SA series, when Shubman Gill wasn’t performing, there were calls to get rid of him. The selector made a valid point, that eventually it just boiled down to the team combination they wanted to play. “We have always kept discussing what the best combination is, or what the best way forward is. Was somebody’s position compromised? Nobody is talking about Jaiswal, he was in the last T20 WC squad and now he’s not here. So, like I said, this is the best combination that we configured for the upcoming tournament,” he concluded.
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