Shubman Gill may have cemented his place as India’s Test captain with a sensational Test series against England last month, but his wait for a consistent run in T20Is looks set to continue. Despite scoring over 650 runs in IPL 2025 and leading North Zone in the upcoming Duleep Trophy, the 25-year-old is unlikely to find a spot in India’s squad for the Asia Cup 2025 in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
According to a report in The Indian Express, the selectors and team management are in agreement that Gill does not fit into their immediate T20 plans. With the top order firing under the Sanju Samson-Abhishek Sharma combination and Tilak Varma flourishing at number three, the management does not want to disrupt a winning formula. Gill, who last played a T20I in July 2024 against Sri Lanka, has been on the sidelines ever since. Instead, there’s a huge chance that Yashasvi Jaiswal gets picked but only as a backup opener to Samson and Abhishek.
Samson-Abhishek to remain untouched
India’s T20 setup under Suryakumar Yadav and mentor Gautam Gambhir has leaned heavily on aggressive starts. Abhishek Sharma, the world’s top-ranked T20I batter, and Samson, rejuvenated as an opener, have given India flying starts across multiple series. The pair’s form has been vital in India’s 13 wins out of their last 15 T20Is. In almost every game, one of them has fired.
Samson, in particular, has reinvented himself at the top, scoring 378 runs with three centuries in his last 10 innings. The management sees him as a long-term solution, and dropping him to accommodate Gill was never seriously considered. There were even informal discussions about sacrificing Tilak Varma’s place to fit Gill in, but selectors felt it would be unfair on the left-hander, who is ranked second in ICC T20I batting charts.
“If Gill is included then he will straight away bat at the top and if he doesn’t get a game then there is no point in having him. At the same time it will be unfair on Sanju, who did well in the past. If Gill gets in then Sanju might have to miss out and Jitesh might get a game,” a source in the BCCI informed IndianExpress.
Instead, the selectors are leaning towards Yashasvi Jaiswal as the reserve opener. Jaiswal, who was part of the 2024 T20 World Cup-winning squad, did not get a game in the Caribbean but remains firmly in the selectors’ plans. It goes to show how talented the Indian pool is as far as T20s are concerned when someone like Jaiswal isn’t an automatic starter. It is a unique case as it is Gill who has kept Jaiswal away from ODIs. The roles seemed to have reversed in the shortest format.
