New Delhi: Shubman Gill’s fate wasn’t actually sealed Saturday when BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia announced the squad for the T20 World Cup but when the fourth T20 International was called off Wednesday due to thick smog.
That was the day it was decided that Gill won’t be picked for the T20 World Cup but till Saturday morning, India’s two-format captain was neither intimated by the chairman of selectors nor did captain Suryakumar Yadav or head coach Gautam Gambhir informed him, according to a BCCI source.
While the skipper, whose record for the past one year has been very poor, has got a reprieve, it’s natural that Gill may start feeling let down and slightly disrespected in the manner in which he was ruthlessly disposed.
The moment news spread that Gill has injured his toe while batting, one knew that something was amiss and that the team management, headlined by Gambhir and Suryakumar, has moved on as far as Gill’s place was concerned.
If BCCI sources are to be believed the team management had already decided to chuck the vice-captain out when in fact he wanted to play the Ahmedabad game as the injury wasn’t that serious.
That was the first sign of creating an exit route for the under-performing Indian vice-captain, who had scored a total of 32 runs in the three games against South Africa.
Initially, the medical team was fearing a hairline fracture but later scans revealed that it was mere bruise and he could have played the Ahmedabad game on painkillers.
“If making him vice-captain for Asia Cup riding on his England Test heroics was a wrong move as Sanju (Samson) had done nothing wrong, the move to drop him just five games before the start of the T20 World Cup indicates that it is more of a course correction done by Agarkar’s panel.
“And the decision has more footprints of the head coach, who’s actually not known for maintaining continuity,” a former national selector told PTI.
If one watched or listened to chairman of selectors Agarkar, he didn’t seem too convinced with this decision as he has been at the forefront of looking at the Punjab man as India’s potential all-format leader.
“We know what a quality player he is, but, perhaps short of a little bit of runs at the moment,” Agarkar said at the press conference for India’s squad announcement.
“(He was) unfortunate to miss out on the last World Cup as well because, you know, we went to a different combination. But it’s the combinations more than anything else. Two keepers at the top, that’s the way we want to try. Someone has to miss out when you pick (squad of)15 and, unfortunately, it’s Gill at this point,” he added.
A cursory glance at Gill and Suryakumar’s record will tell us that the stylish Mohali man has every reason to feel aggrieved.
In 2025, Gill played 15 innings and scored 291 runs at a strike-rate of 137 plus while Surya in 19 innings has managed 218 runs at a strike-rate of 123.2, his worst since making international debut.
And there are murmurs in the Indian team’s corridor that all is certainly not well with the Indian skipper’s right wrist.
There were two out-of-form men and the national selection committee had to get rid of one and it is always the captain that gets immunity in these cases.
So it was ‘SKY’ who by virtue of being the skipper kept his place despite a horrific one-year run while Gill suffered as his game when compared to opening partner Abhishek Sharma didn’t seem that impactful.
And not to forget, Gill is still the captain in two other formats and this move is certain to create an air of mistrust in the Indian dressing room.
Will Gill and Gambhir see eye to eye after this unceremonious dumping?
If Surya doesn’t start scoring runs, he will be losing his voice in the dressing room and eventually his place because, anyone who knows Gambhir knows that for him, “winning is not everything but the only thing”.
Today it was Gill, tomorrow it could be Suryakumar.
PTI
