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Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin has praised the tremendous progress of Shubman Gill. He believes that Shubman Gill has done an excellent job as a captain and while assuming the responsibility of leadership, he has also improved a lot as a batsman.
Gill has now become one of the key players of the India national cricket team and has impressed everyone with his leadership and performances in Test and ODI cricket. Azharuddin believes that Gill has shown a lot of maturity at a young age and is handling the pressure of captaincy very well.
Mohammad Azharuddin questions Shubman Gill’s T20I omission
Mohammad Azharuddin feels that Shubman Gill is one of the best batsmen in India at the moment. However, the former Indian captain was surprised that the right-handed batsman is not part of India’s T20I plans.
The Punjab player previously served as India’s vice-captain in the T20I, but his mediocre performances with the bat led to him being dropped ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup 2026.
However, Azharuddin believes that Shubman Gill has the talent and ability to play in all three formats and should be considered as an all-format player for India.
PTI quoted Mohammad Azharuddin as saying, “I think Gill is handling the captaincy job very well. His individual performance has also improved a lot. He is a fantastic player… one of the best players we have at the moment. To be honest, I don’t know why they don’t pick him for T20. He is an all-format player and should not be dropped from any format.”
Azharuddin warns against giving captaincy to Gill across all formats
However, Azharuddin does not want Shubman Gill to become the captain of all formats for India as it might put too much pressure on the young player. He stressed that keeping India’s Test and ODI captain away from the T20I role will help him focus better on the longer formats.
“No, I think it will put too much pressure on him. T20 is a completely different, fast-paced game which gets over in a matter of hours. If you relieve him of that burden, it helps. He should remain the captain for Test and ODI, but we can have a different captain for T20,” the former HCA president told PTI.
Mohammed Azharuddin backs Shreyas Iyer as India’s new T20I captain
Meanwhile, the former Indian skipper also lauded the appointment of Shreyas Iyer as the T20I captain. He has stated that Iyer has earned the opportunity with his performances and that he has the necessary cricket knowledge and understanding to become a successful captain in the future.
Azharuddin further added, “He has performed well and got the opportunity appropriately. He can become a good captain. He has a very good cricketing mind, and I am sure with time he will become a very good player as well.”
Interestingly, Azharuddin, who is set to reunite with Gautam Gambhir as both captain and batsman after a series of poor performances, supported the national selectors’ decision to remove Suryakumar Yadav, saying that international cricket is about current performance and consistency.
He concluded, “You have to perform consistently because performance matters a lot. There are a lot of young players coming up these days and you can’t rely on past performances. You have to keep performing well every time.”
