Harbhajan Singh defends Shubman Gill after T20 WC snub, backs him to make 'brilliant' comeback

Former India cricketer Harbhajan Singh expressed faith in Shubman Gill to return on a strong note after being dropped for the 2026 T20 World Cup. Gill, who had served as the vice-captain for the Men in Blue in their recently-concluded T20I series against South Africa, was shockingly dropped from the team for the major tournament that will commence from February 7 and Ishan Kishan was called in as his replacement.

Harbhajan's praise for Gill

Harbhajan defended Gill after his omission from the team, remarking that the immense competition in the team led the selectors to make the bold call. He also backed the batter to bounce back from the setback, considering he is still India's captain in both Tests and ODIs.

"It’s not a signal to Gill. He was not taking his place for granted. The competition is so much and they’ve got too many players in the present scenario who can fill that slot and can do well for the team. This is not the end of the road for Gill; he’s a great, great player with beautiful technique, and he will make a brilliant comeback, and not to forget, he’s still the Test captain for India," Harbhajan told reporters during an event.

"Over there, when I was listening to Ajit or even Surya, they were saying that they were looking at which combination fits where for this format. So, given those conditions and that combination, with that kind of respect, the team has been selected that way. So Gill is a class player, there is no doubt about it, and he’ll make a great comeback," he added.

Gill's underwhelming return to T20Is

Gill had returned to India's T20I set-up in the Asia Cup earlier this year, but wasn't able to live upto the expectations. His only notable knock of the tournament was an inning of 47 against Pakistan in the Super 4 stage. His unsatisfactory form continued in the series against Australia and South Africa as he managed to score only 291 runs in 15 games with no half-century under his belt.

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The last straw proved to be the assignment against South Africa where Gill only played three games out of five and recorded scores of 4,0 and 28. With criticism against him mounting, BCCI decided to drop him for the T20 World Cup and brought in Kishan after he led Jharkhand to their maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title..

India's squad for T20 World Cup 2026: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Rinku Singh.