Suryakumar Yadav, the T20I captain of India has come out in support of Shubman Gill's return to the format after the announcement of India's 15-member squad for next month’s Asia Cup 2025 in the UAE by the selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar.
Gill, who presently leads India's Test team, has taken over the role of vice-captain of the T20I side and comes back into the format after an almost year-long break.
“In my opinion, the last time Shubman Gill played a T20I for India was when we went to Sri Lanka. When I was leading, he was the vice-captain. That's where we started the new cycle for the T20 World Cup,” Suryakumar told reporters after the squad announcement on Tuesday.
“After that, he got busy with all the Test series. He didn't get an opportunity to play T20Is because he was busy with Test cricket and the Champions Trophy. He is in the squad and we are happy to have him.”
Gill's recall comes after he had a phenomenal IPL 2025 season with the Gujarat Titans, making the playoffs by leading the team in scoring 650 runs over 15 innings with a 50 average and 155.87 strike rate. His T20I record is just as solid with 578 runs in 21 matches at a 30.42 average and a 139.27 strike rate along with 1-century and 3-half centuries. Most importantly, Gill is also one of the few Indian players to score centuries in all three formats of International Cricket.
Suryakumar underlined the importance of the Asia Cup as a stepping stone towards the 2026 T20 World Cup. “This is the first big tournament we are playing after the T20 World Cup. We played a few bilaterals, but this is a good tournament to test ourselves. There are a lot of T20s before we play the first game of the T20 World Cup. This is where the journey starts for the tournament.”
Ajit Agarkar, the chairman of selectors, explained that Gill's recent absence from T20Is was primarily due to scheduling conflicts, and his participation in the other formats, creating chances for other batsmen (such as Sanju Samson).
“Sanju was playing because Shubman and Yashasvi were not available at that point. So was Abhishek. Abhishek's performances clearly make it hard to leave him out. Plus, his bowling is handy. But, like I said, Shubman was the vice-captain the last time he played T20 cricket. That was after the last World Cup,” Agarkar said.
Asked whether Gill walks straight back into the playing XI, Agarkar left it open: “Captain and coach will take the call on the best balance for the team. Once we get to Dubai, we will have a bit more clarity. More options are available now. Shubman has been in great form anyway the last few months. So has Sanju. So two good options, along with Abhishek.”
On the omissions, Agarkar was candid. Yashasvi Jaiswal, who is part of the standby list, lost out to Abhishek Sharma. “It’s unfortunate. With what Abhishek has done over the last year or so, plus he gives us a bowling option if required. One of these guys was always going to miss out.”
Shreyas Iyer, despite a prolific IPL 2025 for Punjab Kings, was also left out. Agarkar explained, “Again, no fault of his. Got to tell me who he can replace? At the moment, he will have to wait for his chance.”
On Rinku Singh’s inclusion, Agarkar added that balance was key. “He’s always been in the scheme of things. At the moment, we have two mystery spinners/wristspinners in Varun and Kuldeep, and Axar has been around for a while. When we need four spinners, he may always be in the mix. For now, we felt we needed an extra batter in Rinku. And you could only pick 15. If there were 16, maybe he could’ve been in.”
Agarkar admitted the selection group had a clear roadmap after last year’s T20 World Cup. “We had an idea after the last World Cup which way we were going to go. You want to give the 16-17-18 guys you’ve identified the best chance to be in form going into the World Cup.”
India, the defending champions, are placed in Group A together with UAE, Pakistan and Oman. India will start their campaign against UAE in Dubai on September 10, followed by a crucial match against Pakistan on September 14, and will finish the group stage against Oman in Abu Dhabi on September 19. The tournament will be held in the UAE from September 9 to 28.
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