Heading into the second half of 2025, Shubman Gill was on top of the cricket world. Newly named the captain of India’s Test and ODI teams, brought into the T20I team as vice-captain with a clear succession plan in mind.
754 runs in the Test series in England as a rookie captain, 650 runs in the IPL, opening the batting as India won the ICC Champions Trophy and the Asia Cup in two different formats.
But suddenly, the shine was lost as the calendar flipped into 2026. Gill ended the year battling an injury as India lost the home Test series to South Africa, and a run of bad form in the shortest format saw him lose his spot in the squad leading into this year’s home T20 World Cup. Gill’s stocks have definitely dipped in the last couple of months, and therefore the question becomes whether he can use 2026 to bounce back.
For the Indian skipper, the threat is now that he might not have enough cricket lined up to try and replicate what he did accomplish in 2025.
A big question and criticism of Gill even given his form and numbers in ODI cricket has been whether he can match what he does in bilateral series and against weaker opposition when the stakes are higher and the runs are of more value. As of this moment, there are only six series lined up in the fifty over format, and every single one of those is a three-match set, beginning with next week’s bouts against a rotated New Zealand team.
The key examinations of Shubman Gill in 2026
Over the course of the year, the significant barometers for Gill will be series played while visiting England in July, and later travelling to New Zealand to close out the year. That tour of New Zealand will also be India’s key Test fixture of the year: there are only four Test matches lined up for the men in blue, and Gill will need to ensure he scores a mountain of runs in that period.
In the summer months, the pressure will be on his shoulders to replicate the seasons he has had with the Gujarat Titans in 2023 and 2025, where he proved he can be a top-tier T20 opening batter. This will mean stepping up his strike-rate in the powerplay in particular: he averages around 155 over the last three seasons, but if he wishes to be in the conversation to return to the T20I squad, you have to imagine that number will need to be close to 170-180, while also maintaining his weight of runs.
Moreover, 2026 is the year Shubman Gill needs to prove to fans and Indian cricket’s stakeholders that he is ready to take over the leadership mantle from the greats of the past: a big burden has been placed on his shoulders, and developing and maintaining a winning habit over the course of the year will be the priority on that front.
Long-term planning integral for Shubman Gill’s India
All in all, the odds that Gill matches the kind of feats he achieved in the early part of 2025 are almost entirely negligible. The kind of performances that he would need to reach that level are stratospheric, to the extent that it might well be something that he shouldn’t gun for at all. Remember: despite the struggles to close out the year, Gill ended 2025 as the player with the most international runs across formats, and with the joint-most centuries alongside one of the greatest of all time in Joe Root.
The question for the Indian captain should instead by how he can improve in small steps, become a better player, and gear up for 2027, a year that has tournament and series that will matter significantly – Australia’s visit of India early in the year, with the quest to get back to winning ways in Test cricket on home turf, and the ODI World Cup at the close of the year.