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Shubman Gill not included in Asian Games team: The Asian Games will be played in 2026 and Shubman Gill is not included in the long list of cricketers sent to the IOA for selection for the India men’s T20 team. The Indian team may be the strongest team in Asia in terms of cricket at present, but Asian Games bring a sense of pride to the country.
India won gold medals in both men’s and women’s cricket in the last edition of the Asian Games in 2022. Under the leadership of Ruturaj Gaikwad, the Indian team was successful in winning its first Asian Games men’s gold medal. However, this time he will not be seen in the same role as captain, even if he is selected in the team.
Why is Shubman Gill not a part of the Asian Games team?
Recently BCCI has sent a long list of cricketers to the Indian Olympic Association for the selection of the team for the Asian Games. However, some of the key absentees include Indian captain Shubman Gill.
According to a recent report by PTI journalist Kushan Sarkar, Shubman Gill will not be able to represent India in the Asian Games as he will be seen leading the Indian men’s cricket team against West Indies in a long white-ball series. The Asian Games is a bilateral series against the West Indies. Therefore Shubman Gill will captain the national team.
The cricket phase of the Asian Games will begin on September 17, while the ODI phase of India’s West Indies series will begin on September 27 and will be followed by a five-match T20I series.
World Cup winning captain missing from Asian Games
The list sent to the IOA includes the names of many players including big names like Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan. However, his participation will also be doubtful citing the clash with the West Indies series.
Long list of IOA: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson (wk), Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Tilak Verma, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakraborty, Anukul Roy, Ayush Badoni, Harsh Dubey, Dhruv Jurel, Khalil Ahmed, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ravi Bishnoi, Shahbaz Ahmed, Shivam Dubey. Vipraj Nigam, Harshit Rana, Yash Thakur, Washington Sundar.
Another key absentee was India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav. Even though Yadav represents India against West Indies, the T20I phase of bilateral matches begins much after the Asian Games ends on October 3.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi will be swiftly included in India’s T20 team with the Asian Games
Vaibhav Suryavanshi is one of the players in the list of names sent to the IOA and if he is not included in the Indian team by then, then there is every possibility of him making his debut for India in the Asian Games.
Several new players, Anukul Roy, Harsh Dubey, Vipraj Nigam and Yash Thakur, will make their debut for India in the Asian Games if they are selected for the squad going to Japan.
Suryavanshi, although 15 years old, will rise quickly due to his intense ball-striking ability and his dominance at the top of the innings. He broke several IPL records in his first full season for the Royals and became the highest uncapped batsman in IPL history with 776 runs in 16 matches.
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