Months after their T20 World Cup 2026 triumph, Team India suffered a humiliating 0-2 whitewash at the hands of Ireland in an away T20I series.
While the Men in Blue lost the series opener by 34 runs, they fell agonisingly short by just a single run in the second T20I. The results ended India’s remarkable 16-series unbeaten streak in T20Is. It also marked a rough start to Shreyas Iyer's tenure as full-time T20I captain.
After India’s dismal show on the tour of Ireland, former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar made a bold prediction, saying he expects Shubman Gill to gradually return to India's T20 scheme of things. He cited Gill's depth of experience in overseas conditions and his impressive recent form in the IPL, where he was a standout performer for the Gujarat Titans.
Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson opened the batting for India in the Ireland series. Both of the them failed to leave a big mark. While Sharma returned with scores of 49 and 0, Samson managed 5 runs across the two innings, including a duck in the second T20I.
"Shubman Gill... just for people to understand, this is a guy who is a T20 batter now and had a tremendous IPL as well. I'm not talking about captaincy, but these are the players you slowly want to introduce back into T20 cricket because they have a little more depth in conditions like these and are used to them as well, like we saw when he played in England and overseas," Manjrekar said on Sony Sports.
"That is the path for Shubman Gill going forward. It won't happen immediately, but I think you will slowly start seeing him back in India's T20 plans," he added.
Gill was the notable omission in India’s T20 World Cup squad earlier this year. He looked to be a sure-shot for the global showpiece after his return to the shortest format as vice-captain during the Asia Cup last September. However, the 26-year-old struggled to make an impact with the bat, scoring 291 runs in 15 innings at an average of 24.25 and a strike-rate of 137.26 without any half-century.
Shubman Gill may have fallen back in the T20I packing order currently, but he made a strong case for his comeback by finishing the IPL 2026 as the second highest run-scorer, amassing 732 runs in 16 innings at an impressive strike rate of 163. 02.
