'Indian cricket has gone behind...': Asia Cup winner questions Shubman Gill's omission from T20 World Cup 2026 squad

Former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif questioned the frequent changes in the Suryakumar Yadav-led T20I setup for the T20 World Cup 2026, which will take place in India and Sri Lanka.

Mohammad Kaif on Shubman Gill's exclusion

Kaif, who was part of India's 2002 Asia Cup-winning team, reckons that if the selectors knew there were better players than Gill, but they decided to bring him into the squad and dropped him at the last minute, saying they could have instead invested in players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Samson, and Jitesh Sharma.

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“They knew there were better players, I am talking about the T20 format. Just this one. There were better players than Gill. So it was the mistake of the selectors. They have made a mistake and Indian cricket has gone behind. For two to three months, you could have invested in Jaiswal, Samson, and Jitesh,” Kaif said on his YouTube channel.

Mohammad Kaif on Axar Patel's vice-captaincy

Axar who was rewarded with vice captaincy in T20Is when Shubman Gill was busy with Test assignments, was demoted as a player before the Asia Cup 2025 as the BCCI appointed Gill as Suryakumar Yadav's deputy. Following Gill's snub, Axar was again named the vice captain of the squad, leaving Kaif furious. He said the selectors wasted Patel's crucial time to sharpen his leadership skills before the T20 World Cup 2026.

“It is a loss for Axar Patel, who returns as vice-captain and for the Indian team as well. The squad is still solid and there is no doubt. But if Axar had continued as vice-captain, he would have been a part of this team meeting, and he would have gotten time to work on his leadership. Let’s assume Surya gets injured, then if Axar had had those two to three months as vice-captain, he would know more about his team and the players. If he has to captain, he would have been better prepared, so that opportunity was taken away from him,” remarked Kaif.

India's squad for T20 World Cup 2026 and T20I series against New Zealand

Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel (vc), Ishan Kishan (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar