Shubman Gill was the notable omission from India’s T20 World Cup 2026 squad announced last month. He looked to be a sure-shot for the marquee event after his return to the format and being given vice-captaincy and the opener's role.
However, the 26-year-old struggled to make an impact with the bat, scoring 291 runs in 15 matches at an average of 24.25 and a strike-rate of 137.26.
Consequently, Gill was axed from the side with Sanju Samson being restored as first-choice opener and Ishan Kishan selected as cover. Axar Patel was reinstated as India's vice-captain in T20Is.
Amid the setback, former Australia skipper Michael Clarke threw his weight behind Shubman Gill, backing the Indian ODI and Test captain to take command of the T20I side after the World Cup.
According to Clarke, Gill was dropped from India’s T20 scheme of things keeping his current form and the ICC tournament in mind.
“He might still be (in contention). I don’t think that changes too much. I think the squads needed to be announced by a certain time, and he wasn’t batting as well as he would like. India’s got so many opening batting options; he’s not the captain of the team at this stage, so I think they pretty much made the decision. They wanted these couple of warm-up games to be a real focus on what they are doing in the World Cup. There were questions about his form. They made that decision specifically in the lead-up to the World Cup,” Clarke said in the Beyond23 Cricket Podcast.
“I think after the World Cup, don’t be surprised if he not only comes back into the team, but he also takes over the captaincy. He’s an unbelievable player; just not playing his best cricket at the moment. I don’t think there are too many concerns moving forward with Shubman Gill. India has made it clear we are 100 per cent focused on this World Cup, and we want to win it,” he added.
India will enter the T20 World Cup as defending champions. The Men in Blue will open their campaign against the USA in Mumbai on February 7.
India’s squad for T20 World Cup 2026: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel (vc), Rinku Singh, Harshit Rana, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Ishan Kishan
