Yograj Singh didn’t seem to be impressed with the selectors’ decision to drop from the 2026 T20 World Cup squad and he namedropped Kapil Dev while reacting to it.
Yograj, father of Indian legend Yuvraj Singh, asked the reason behind Gill losing his place in the WC team. The Ajit Agarkar-headed selection committee made the bold call to drop the vice-captain for the upcoming ICC event. Gill looked set to open the innings in the WC. But he lost his place in the squad. Sanju Samson is now all but confirmed to face the new ball with Abhishek Sharma.
“Shubman Gill is a vice-captain. What is the reason behind dropping him? Just because he failed in 4-5 innings? Indian cricketers have had so many players who have barely managed to perform in 10 matches out of 100 opportunities,” Yograj said on Ravi Bisht YouTube channel.
“Let me give you an example of the ‘great’ Kapil Dev. When we toured Pakistan with Bishan Singh Bedi as captain, Kapil Dev continued to play matches despite failing with bat and ball. But Bishan Singh Bedi still took him on the subsequent tour of England,” he added.
While Gill lost his place in the team, Ishan Kishan was rewarded for his brilliant run in domestic cricket and he made his comeback in Team India after two years. Kishan hasn’t played international cricket since 2023. He was part of the 2021 T20 World Cup and 2023 ODI World Cup teams.
Apart from dropping Gill, the selectors also made the shocking call to drop . The wicketkeeper-batsman replaced Samson in the playing XI during the Australia and played ahead of him in the South Africa series as well.
Gill’s dropping seemingly forced the selectors to also drop Jitesh as they needed a backup opener. Kishan can open the innings and he is also a full-time wicketkeeper.
With Jitesh getting dropped, the selectors recalled Rinku Singh, who will do the finisher’s job. Rinku only played one ball in the Asia Cup and one match against Australia. He scored a boundary in the Asia Cup final to propel India to a title win.