Mumbai: It’s final! Shubman Gill is out of India’s T20 World Cup squad that was announced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Saturday.
While Suryakumar Yadav will continue to lead the team, Axar Patel will be vice-captain. Wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan has also made his way back to the team.
Gill’s drop from the squad did not come as a surprise for many. He was dropped from the last T20I match played between India and South Africa at Ahmedabad on Friday. The team management had then said that Gill missed the match due to an injury suffered during nets.
Most did not believe this, as the demand for Gill’s removal from the side has been growing since his form dropped. His performance in the first three T20Is against the Proteas was below par.
There was no such excuse on Saturday with chief selector Ajit Agarkar saying: “There’s no doubt about Shubman’s quality. He may not have scored as many runs recently, but that doesn’t change
how highly we rate him. He was also unlucky to miss out in the last World Cup when we opted for a different combination.”
“Once again, this is more about team balance —bspecifically the idea of having two wicketkeepers at the top — than about individual ability,” Agarkar added, as per India Today.
Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav said that this has nothing to do with form, but the right combination.
“It’s not about his form. It’s just about the combination. We wanted to have a keeper at the top. It’s not about his form. There’s no chatter about his quality. He is a terrific player,” he said.
“We needed Rinku Singh. We have Washington Sundar also. So, we needed to be flexible to have multiple combinations. That’s why we have picked this squad. No question about Gill’s class,” the captain added.
Suryakumar Yadav will lead Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav Varun Chakaravarthy, Washington Sundar and Ishan Kishan.
The same squad will also play the five-match T20I series against New Zealand in January. This will be the final preparation before the World Cup being co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka.
India, the reigning world champion, would certainly not like to let the title slip from its hand on home soil.