Former India cricketer Yograj Singh believes that Shubman Gill deserved to be picked in the squad for the 2026 T20 World Cup. He criticised the selectors for not backing Gill despite appointing him as the vice-captain and also said that a player of his calibre shouldn't be judged on the basis of only 4-5 innings.
Gill was brought back into India's T20I set-up during the Asia Cup and was even given the opening slot with Sanju Samson having to drop down the batting order. However, Gill wasn't able to deliver upto the expectations and was dropped from the team after numerous failures.
“Shubman Gill is a vice-captain. What is the reason behind dropping him? Just because he failed in 4-5 innings? Indian cricketers have had so many players who have barely managed to perform in 10 matches out of 100 opportunities,” Yograj told Ravi Bisht on a YouTube show.
“They still played; you already know the reason why. Young Abhishek Sharma arrived a couple of years ago. If he fails four innings will you drop him as well?” he added.
Yograj brings Kapil Dev into the debate
Yograj then dragged Kapil Dev into the debate and recalled how the latter was given a lot of opportunities despite multiple batting failures by the then captain Bishan Singh Bedi.
“Let me give you an example of the ‘great’ Kapil Dev. When we toured Pakistan with Bishan Singh Bedi as captain, Kapil Dev continued to play matches despite failing with bat and ball. But Bishan Singh Bedi still took him on the subsequent tour of England," Yograj further said.
Gill's underwhelming performance in T20Is
Meanwhile, Gill was dropped from the team after he only managed to score 291 runs in 15 games with not even a single half-century. His only notable knock during this time was an inning of 47 against Pakistan in the Super 4 stage of the Asia Cup. It remains to be seen if he will be picked in India's squad for the upcoming five-match T20I series against New Zealand that will begin from January 21.
India's squad for 2026 T20 World Cup: 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.