Although Shubman Gill was dropped from the Indian team participating in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup, former Australian captain Michael Clarke believes that this will not change India’s plans to appoint the same captain in all three formats of the game. He has supported not only the return of Shubman but also the taking over of captaincy from Suryakumar Yadav.
India announced the T20 World Cup squad and surprised everyone when Shubman Gill was left out of the squad while he was speculated to become India’s next T20I captain. Michael Clarke blamed his 291 runs in 15 innings as the reason for the failure, but also claimed that it would not affect India’s long-term plans.
Suryakumar Yadav will have to lose the captaincy of Team India after the ICC T20 World Cup!
The message from the Indian team management as well as the BCCI selectors is very clear that this will be Suryakumar Yadav’s last two series before he ends his captaincy tenure for India.
Under Surya’s leadership, India have not lost a single T20I series in the Gambhir era, and the New Zealand series will be his final bilateral series as India captain. Also, the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 is his first and last World Cup appearance with the captain’s band.
Suryakumar Yadav has had a stellar career and has been a special find for the Indian team in the shortest format of the game, and has won the Asia Cup as well as defeating South Africa and Australia on home soil as a captain.
Michael Clarke argues for Shubman Gill not being selected in T20 World Cup
The former Australian great argued that Shubman has been dropped from the upcoming World Cup squad by Ajit Agarkar due to his poor form, and the management has made it clear that they want to focus a lot on their immediate goal, which is to defend the World Cup title.
“He could still be (in contention). I don’t think there will be too many changes. I think the teams should be announced by a certain time, and he was not batting as well as he would have liked. India have a lot of opening batting options; he is not the captain of the team at this stage, so I think they have pretty much made the decision,” Clarke said, mentioning that India have abundant options in the top order.
“They wanted these few practice matches to focus on what they are doing in the World Cup. There were questions about their form. They made that decision especially before the World Cup,” Clarke told the Beyond23 Cricket Podcast.
Due to the form of Suryakumar Yadav, he will not get a chance to play further in the Indian team, hence he will not be retained as the captain and hence, this will strengthen Shubman Gill’s case in front of the BCCI selectors and the Indian management.
Clarke supports Shubman Gill to take over captaincy from Suryakumar Yadav
The former World Cup-winning Australian captain revealed that Shubman Gill will not only return to India’s T20I squad but will also take over as the next captain after Suryakumar Yadav is relieved of the role.
Another main reason for his belief was India’s long-standing preference to have the same captain in all three formats of the game. A trend that started with MS Dhoni and easily extended to Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Ideally, Gill, being the Test and ODI captain, should be the next T20I captain according to this narrative.
“I think after the World Cup, don’t be surprised if he not only comes back into the team but also takes over the captaincy. He is an incredible player, not playing his best cricket at the moment. I don’t think there are too many concerns about Shubman Gill moving forward. India have made it clear that we are 100 per cent focused on this World Cup and we want to win it,” he said.
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