India vice-captain Shubman Gill has been named in the final squad for the ICC T20 World Cup by former Indian batsman Aakash Chopra. However, the former batsman has omitted promising Indian batsman Rinku Singh from his maiden World Cup call.
India will move into the next T20 World Cup under the leadership of its captain Suryakumar Yadav, who has been a highly successful leader since the Men in Blue won the last World Cup in 2024. Under his leadership, India has not lost a single series yet and only 6 T20I matches.
The defending champions will be taking on the T20 World Cup on their home turf, as India is the official host of the competition. Shubman Gill was named the vice-captain of the Indian team ahead of the Asia Cup.
Shubman Gill has been named in India’s ICC T20 World Cup squad
Indian opener Shubman Gill was appointed captain of the Test team after his stellar performance on India’s tour of England. He was announced as the vice-captain of the T20I team and was also favored as an opening batsman in the format.
Earlier, Shubman Gill was not even included in the playing eleven after the T20 World Cup 2024, as Sanju Samson replaced him as the opening batsman along with Abhishek Sharma. Samson played relatively well and secured his place for 2024 with 3 centuries in a calendar year.
However, since his return, Shubman Gill’s form has been severely lacking, as he has averaged only 20 in the 15 matches he has played for India and is yet to score a half-century in the format during this period. Despite heavy criticism of the Indian batsman, former Indian batsman Aakash Chopra has named him in his squad for the ICC T20 World Cup 2026.
Rinku Singh left out of ICC T20 World Cup 2026 squad
India considered giving chances to Indian batsmen in the lower order. Rinku Singh was one of the most talented Indian batsmen who was included in the Indian squad for the shortest format of the game.
Rinku got a chance in the 2023 IPL for Kolkata Knight Riders after his stellar performance. After this he also fired for India in the lower order against Australia and many other teams.
However, in view of Gautam Gambhir’s preference for all-rounders, Rinku Singh was dropped from the Indian team. He was dropped from the Indian team for the South Africa series, and even Aakash Chopra doesn’t fit him in his ICC T20 World Cup squad.
Aakash Chopra’s Indian squad for the T20 World Cup: Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Verma, Sanju Samson, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dubey, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakraborty, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah and Harshit Rana.
Gill was dropped from the last two matches of the South Africa T20 series.
Shubman Gill has failed to perform well in the series against South Africa. In three matches, the batsman has scored just 32 runs at a very low strike rate and has failed to impress the Indian fans.
Shubman Gill is now out of the remaining two matches of the series due to a toe injury. The batsman is likely to be replaced by Sanju Samson, who has been benched for over 6 matches and is looking forward to finally making a comeback into the Indian XI.
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