New Delhi, Dec 21 (IANS) It’s already been more than 24 hours since BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia repeated India’s squad for the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup, where he again called Axar Patel as the side’s vice-captain. That also confirmed that Shubman Gill, India’s Test and ODI captain, was axed from the T20I team with less than 50 days to go for the mega event to begin.

Gill’s omission capped weeks of speculation on whether his return unsettled the established opening pair of Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson. Despite making just 291 runs in 15 innings at an average of 24.25 and strike rate of 137.26, many felt Gill’s place in the squad was all but certain until Saturday’s late twist happened.

Multiple sources familiar with the matter told IANS on Sunday that the call to exclude Gill, backed to be India’s all-format leader, was ‘tough, but necessary’ in the team’s interest for winning the competition, where the Suryakumar Yadav-led side are entering as defending champions.

“To leave out Gill, it was a tough but necessary decision. It was taken in the interest of the team. The people in charge of the T20I team had realised a while back that their plan with Gill in it wasn’t working. It was about when do they change and this course correction was done on the squad’s selection day,” further said sources.

This agency also understands that a strong feeling within the think-tank to get Samson return to the opening slot and bring back Rinku Singh came around the fog abandoned T20I against South Africa in Lucknow, a day after Gill suffered a toe injury while batting in a practice session.

The pragmatic call to drop Gill, who again fell short of featuring in the T20 World Cup, has drawn largely positive response, but it carries a sharper message: no player is immune to poor returns, and that the people who matter will back combinations they believe offers the best chance of winning a global trophy.

Just like Gill, skipper Suryakumar Yadav has been in lean form – making only 244 runs in his last 22 innings, without hitting a single fifty. But sources said changing a captain so close to the mega event was never on cards. “Nobody was going to drop a captain in a World Cup selection meeting. That would have made for a foolish look,” said the sources.

More than a day on, the announcement of Patel’s elevation as vice-captain and Gill’s exclusion continues to reverberate. But it is worth remembering that in the last three ICC men’s events, India lost just one game and won two titles – 2024 T20 World Cup and 2025 Champions Trophy. Now, come 2026, all eyes will be fixed on how Yadav and his team chart their plans for India to defend their T20 World Cup title.

–IANS

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