Team India T20i World Cup 2026 Squad: Team India’s squad has been announced for the T20 World Cup 2026 starting in India and Sri Lanka from 7th February. Ishan Kishan has got a place, while Shubman Gill is out.
Shubman Gill Dropped From Team India Squad: Team India has been announced for the ICC Men’s T20i World Cup 2026. On Saturday, December 20, BCCI Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar approved the names of 15 players. The responsibility of Men in Blue will be on the shoulders of Suryakumar Yadav, while Akshar Patel will be his partner i.e. as the vice-captain. The most surprising name in this group is Shubhman Gill. Gill, who was holding the charge of vice-captain till now, is out. Now in such a situation, a question is arising in the minds of the fans, why were they shown the way out? Let us tell you the 3 big reasons behind this…
Shubman Gill is in bad form
Shubman Gill is in very poor form as a batsman in T20 cricket. A half-century came from his bat last 15 innings ago. In the series against South Africa, the highest score in 3 matches was 28 runs, that too came in 28 balls. Before that, Asia Cup 2025 had also proved to be a flop. Could not do anything amazing even in the 5 match T20I series against Australia. Scored only 133 runs in 5 matches. Could score 127 runs in 7 innings in Asia Cup. In such a situation, the management did not consider it right to take risk in the World Cup.
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Surprise entry in Ishan Kishan’s team
Ishan Kishan, who was out of Team India for a long time, has got direct entry in T20 World Cup 2026, this has also become a major reason for Shubman Gill’s exclusion. Ishaan is in excellent form at the moment. In the final of Syed Mushtaq Ali Tournament 2025, he played an inning of 101 runs in 49 balls against Haryana and made Jharkhand champion for the first time as captain. Scored 517 runs in 10 innings of SMAT 2025 at an average of 57.44 and strike rate of 197.33. Scored 246 runs in 3 innings in Ranji Trophy. Due to this he was given a chance and Gill had to be out.
Sanju Samson is the best option as an opener
At present, Sanju Samson is a better option as an opener for Team India in T20 cricket. Since Asia Cup 2025, Shubman Gill was continuously being made to open with Abhishek Sharma, but his performance was nothing special. At the same time, Sanju, who has scored 3 T20I centuries, was sometimes playing in the middle order and sometimes was dropped. He also sat out the first 3 matches against South Africa because Gill was playing. Sanju got a chance in the fifth match and played an excellent inning of 37 runs. In such a situation, the selectors thought it right to give a better chance to Sanju than Gil Sose as opener. If all three of Gill, Sanju and Ishaan were selected, it would have been difficult to make a team combination.
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