Shubman Gill and Jitesh Sharma were the notable omissions from India’s T20 World Cup 2026 squad announced on Saturday (December 20).

Gill 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.

Following this, Gill was axed from the side with Ishan Kishan being selected as the back-up opener and wicketkeeper, which also led to Jitesh being ousted from the side.

Reflecting on the selectors’ decision, former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif said the Ajit Agarkar-led panel made a mistake by picking Gill in the first place instead of backing better players and had been forced to drop him.

Notably, Gill’s return to the T20I fold as deputy during the Asia Cup saw Sanju Samson losing his spot at the top of the order despite hitting three hundreds last year. Samson has now been reinstated as the first-choice opener.

“You carried Gill till the very end and then dropped him," Kaif said on his YouTube channel. “I feel it is the right call. It came late, but it was right. The planning is zero. There is no planning. It has been a waste of time in the name of planning.

“You backed that player who is not ready now. There were better players than him who should have played. It was your mistake as selectors. Now you had no other choice but to remove him. This has happened very rarely. There was no option left as he did not score in 17-18 innings, and how many more chances would you give him? The pressure was increasing. No one wanted to drop him, but I feel it has been a waste of time for Indian cricket and those players who should have gotten the opportunity.”

“They knew there were better players, I am talking about the T20 format. Just this one. There were better players than Gill. So it was the mistake of the selectors. They have made a mistake and Indian cricket has gone behind. For two to three months, you could have invested in Jaiswal, Samson, and Jitesh,” he added.

Kaif also explained why it wrong to remove Axar Patel from the vice-captaincy position in September.

“It is a loss for Axar Patel who returns as vice-captain and for the Indian team as well,” Kaif added. “The squad is still solid and there is no doubt. But if Axar had continued as vice-captain, he would have been a part of this team meeting, and he would have gotten time to work on his leadership.”

“Let’s assume Surya gets injured, then if Axar had had those two to three months as vice-captain, he would know more about his team and the players. If he has to captain, he would have been better prepared, so that opportunity was taken away from him,” remarked Kaif.

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