Asia Cup 2025: Since the Asia Cup 2025 is just a few weeks away, the BCCI has yet to announce India’s squad for the upcoming continental tournament, as the Men in Blue would be entering the tournament as the reigning champions. Of all the names that have been brought up for selection, Shubman Gill is in contention to make a comeback to the shortest format.
After leading the team from the front during the recently concluded five-match Test series against England, which ended in a 2-2 tie, Gill’s demand has grown rapidly over the past few months. He led the team from the front and was also the highest run-getter between both teams. His sublime form and brilliant captaincy skills have grabbed the team management’s attention, and his name has come up in discussions for making a comeback in this format.
Gill last featured in the shortest format against Sri Lanka, where he had become the vice-captain for both the white-ball teams. He also showed a glimpse of his captaincy skills in the T20I series against Zimbabwe, which was held immediately after the T20 World Cup, and he helped the team win 4-0.
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Discussions were held about Gill making a comeback, but questions were also raised about his position in India’s current T20I team. He has represented India in 21 T20Is till now and has scored 578 runs at an average of 30.42 and a brilliant strike rate of 139.27, where he has smashed one century and three half-centuries.
His strike rate in IPL is quite similar, where he has scored 3866 runs after playing in 115 innings at a staggering average of 39.44. Although he has performed brilliantly in this format, he won’t be able to fit in India’s current T20I team. When Suryakumar Yadav became India’s T20I skipper, he also implemented the same philosophy as Rohit Sharma and ensured that the young team batted aggressively.
Can Gill step up his T20 game?
Since July last year, the Men in Blue have posted a target of more than 200 runs eight times in the 13 matches where they have batted first. India’s batting lineup from the beginning consists of explosive batters and tries to take the opponent bowlers to the cleaners from the first ball itself. On the back of their batting prowess, they have posted mammoth targets like 297/6, 283/1, 247/9, 234/2, 221/9.
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Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Rinku Singh, and Hardik Pandya have all performed brilliantly in this format since last year, as they have batted aggressively according to the modern standards of this format. At the same time, Gill usually takes his time to settle and then change his approach, which was quite visible during IPL 2025 as well.
And that’s why calling him back would affect the team’s batting lineup since they do have a formidable side, which the whole world is afraid of. At the same time, his position in India’s playing XI won’t be fixed as they already have a well-settled opening duo in the form of Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma. At the same time, Yashasvi Jaiswal, who too is known for batting aggressively, is in line to make his T20I debut.
The vice-captaincy conundrum
Tilak Varma and skipper Suryakumar Yadav bat at No.3 and No.4 positions in the shortest format. And since Gill usually bats as a top-order batter, sending him to bat at any other position except the top three would be considered futile. Since India’s top four are already fixed in this format, there is no position left for Gill in the side.
The selectors had picked Axar Patel as the vice-captain of India’s T20I team earlier this year, ahead of the five-match series against England. The star all-rounder has played a huge role for the side across formats owing to his match-winning abilities both as a batter and a bowler.
If Gill does make a comeback, then he would be reappointed as the vice-captain, and that won’t be fair to Patel, who has made significant contributions to the team over the last few years. He also played an important role during India’s T20 World Cup-winning campaign last year.
The Prince will have to wait for his turn
That’s why including Gill all of a sudden would become problematic for the team management, and it would also affect the status quo of the team. Although Gill is considered the future captain of the Indian team across all formats and should be praised since he has proved his worth in the other two formats, T20Is aren’t his cup of tea yet.
Currently, it would be only logical to drop him from this format and wait for the perfect chance. The Men in Blue have got their bases covered, which will help them to defend their T20 World Cup title next year. To keep the team’s interest in mind, skipper Suryakumar Yadav should be continuously given the freedom to lead the side, as he has earned the chance with the kind of results that they have produced till now.
As far as Gill is concerned, he will have to prove his worth in this format, and right now, he is far away from achieving his goal.