The 25-year-old has not been in the best of form in the shortest format.
Ever since the Indian squad for the Asia Cup 2025 was announced, the inclusion of Shubman Gill in the squad has been the point of discussion across all the analysis, podcasts and pre-match interviews. The management’s decision to back Shubman Gill as the vice-captain of the Blues in the shortest format has not been received well by a lot of stakeholders of the game.
That being said, the 25-year-old has been unable to prove his critics wrong. His performances in the T20I format in the recent past have not shown any promise whatsoever. In the first two T20Is against South Africa, the Indian vice-captain has managed scored of 4 & 0, raising further questions over his inclusion in the playing XI. To add to that, Shubman Gill has looked very jittery against the moving ball, which became his undoing in the second T20I in Chandigarh.
With all that has happened in the last few days, it seems as if the Indian Test & ODI skipper is in a race against time to make it to the T20 World Cup 2026 squad. However, he will have to make sure that his performances speak for themselves as there are two players waiting in the wings fighting for the same spot that Gill is playing at. The 25-year-old has made a comeback after a neck spasm, which kept him out for a brief period.
Having said that, former India speedster and now Gujarat Titans (GT) head coach Ashish Nehra has a different perspective towards the youngster. Nehra has stated that it would be extremely easy to drop a player from the XI, stating that one is not in good form. But the GT head coach thinks that it would be important for the management to hand Shubman Gill a longer rope.
“In such a fast-paced format, whether it is international cricket or IPL, if we start evaluating players like Gill after two-three matches, then it will be difficult”, said Nehra speaking about Shubman Gill.
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By showcasing strong numbers against his name in the coming three T20Is against South Africa. If Shubman Gill has to walk into the playing XI for the T20 World Cup in 2026, he will have to let the bat do the talking. There is not a spec of doubt about the capability of Shubman Gill in the shortest format, as we have seen him bat in the Indian Premier League (IPL). However, international cricket could be a different ball game.
Though Gill is nowhere close to being unsuitable for the format, it is also true that his recent performances have not been impressive enough to hold an important spot for a coveted world cup. Therefore, the Indians will have to make sure that the communication is kept crystal clear with the Indian T20I vice-captain. The likes of Sanju Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who have scored humongous runs have spent some time on the bench. So the pressure on Gill will be piling up for sure.
To add to that, the Men in Blue will have to make sure that they don’t let their flexibility go from their strength to their weakness. In the recent T20I against the Proteas, the hosts sent Axar Patel at three when they had 214 runs to chase. This constant changing of batting orders would not help the team and the mindset of players – which needs to be stable and clear ahead of big games.
As for Shubman Gill, the job would be cut out clearly. Good runs against his name would mean a place in the side for the coveted tournament. However, his inclusion at the top of the order has probably put Samson on the sidelines. The wicketkeeper-batter from Kerala has three hundreds in his last 10 appearances in the shortest format. So the sand clock seems to have started for Gill!
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