The Ajit Agarkar-led BCCI selection committee on Saturday (December 20) announced India’s 15-member squad for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 and five-match T20I series against New Zealand.

Shubman Gill’s snub was the biggest talking point as Axar Patel was named the vice-captain in his place. The decision of selectors caught the fans, experts and former cricketers by surprise.

India batting legend Sunil Gavaskar didn’t see it coming as well and he expressed his shock on-air as the squad was discussed on Star Sports.

“Not a bit of a surprise, it is a surprise,” Gavaskar said, before highlighting Gill’s pedigree and acknowledging the recent dip.

“Because he’s a class act. Quality batter, who’s had a fabulous season with the bat. Yes, I know he struggled for these few matches against South Africa. But you know, class always tells in the end. You know form is always a little temporary,” Gavaskar added.

Gill returned to the T20I fold as deputy during the Asia Cup 2025 in UAE, where he scored only 127 runs in seven innings at an average of 21.16 and a strike rate of 151.19. He failed to make a mark in the subsequent five T20Is on the tour of Australia, amassing 132 runs at a strike rate of 136.08 without a half-century.

Making his comeback after recovering from neck injury, Gill featured in three home T20Is against South Africa and returned with scores of 4, 0 and 28.

“And he was also coming after a long layoff. So when he was not in any rhythm, one can understand when you are not in rhythm, and you are playing the shortest format of the game, where you have to go bang, bang,” said Gavaskar, who also commented on Gill’s approach to batting.

“And however much you can say that, you know, you can play that, if you’re naturally bent, he is more a Test player. You can see that all his natural bent is to be playing along the ground, to be, you know, hitting in the wheel. It doesn’t come easily, then to be able to do the kind of shots that get you runs in the T20. So he had a little bit of a problem, but he’s very good indeed. We’ve seen in the IPL, he’s very very good. So the T20 format is not something strange for him,” he explained.

Gavaskar also revealed he had just travelled from Ahmedabad with Gill and Suryakumar Yadav. “He was also on the same flight coming back just now from Ahmedabad, along with Surya.”

The 76-year-old opened up on advising Gill to ask someone older in his family to cast off the evil eye from him.

“You know, when we were getting off, and I do hope Shubman takes it in the right spirit, because all I do is want, you know, the very best for him. I said that some of these injuries that he’s had have been a little freakish. And therefore you know that neck injury and then of course the knee injury. I said, Ghar pe kisiko bolo nazar utar de. You know, because we believe in that. We believe in ki kabhi kabhi nazar lag jaati hain.”

India’s squad for T20 World Cup 2026 and New Zealand series: 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