Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar has reacted to the surprising drop of Shubman Gill from India’s T20 World Cup 2026 squad. The 15-member squad was announced by BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar, and it saw Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma being confirmed as openers, leading to the exclusion of Shubman Gill.
The 26-year-old, who was regarded as the potential all-format captain, was let go due to a lack of T20I runs in 2025. The right-handed batsman, who returned to the side in the Asia Cup, failed to set the stage on fire, scoring 291 runs in 15 innings.
Manjrekar stated that adding Gill to the lineup was not the right decision in the first place. He added that the batter was dropped following a great Test series against England, in which he hit 754 runs in five games.
With Gill's inclusion in the T20I playing XI, Sanju Samson and Rinku Singh were dropped from the roster, which drew widespread criticism. With Gill out, Samson is expected to begin the batting, while Rinku returns to the squad and will likely play the position of finisher.
"I look at Shubman Gill's non-selection in the Indian T20 World Cup squad as a mistake that the selectors have rectified. Let me explain. India had that tremendous tour of England, and Shubman Gill was the star in the way he batted. So there was a lot of excitement then. Indian cricket was in a happy place. Shubman Gill was the name, wasn't he? And immediately he was made the captain of the one-day team," said Manjrekar in a video shared by him on Instagram.
“And in that excitement, he also got into the T20 Indian team. Now, that was a mistake. And at the time, I said that as well, because, I mean, there was nothing that he had done in that time to prove that, you know, he's a sensational T20 player,” he added.
Here is the video:
Manjrekar also suggested to the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee that the formats shouldn’t be mixed and players needed to be picked according to how useful they are in the specific format.
“Just based on his test success in England, he was picked for the Indian T20 squad. So that was a mistake. And that's what the selectors have done now. They've rectified that mistake by not having Shubman Gill in this T20 team for the World Cup for India. And I just hope now that a lesson has been learned, that this sport has three formats,” said Manjrekar.
“And if somebody plays well in Test matches, he's played well in Test matches. When somebody does well in one-dayers, he's an exceptional one-day player. And T20 performances will tell you how good a player is in T20 cricket. So, one must not confuse all these formats when we are making selections. So, I hope this is in some way a lesson for the selectors,” he concluded.
