Why Shubman Gill Is Out And Suryakumar Yadav In!

The Indian team for the ICC World Twenty20 bash in India (and Sri Lanka) from February 2026 has been announced, and not one and all is happy with the inequity in Shubman Gill being shown the door and Suryakumar Yadav being retained in spite of his meagre returns this year. The selection committee Chairman Ajit Agarkar and head coach Gautam Gambhir have taken a call on Gill not to pick him for the Twenty20 World Cup because he has been far from spectacular. He has made only 291 runs in 15 matches, but what has Suryakumar Yadav done with the bat this year? 21 matches, 218 runs, average 13.63, scoring rate 7.39! Clearly the selection committee and Gambhir do not want to dump him for not being upto a scratch in 19 innings of the 21 matches he has played. They have given credence to the number of runs he has scored in 2022 (1164 runs), 2023 (733) and 2024 (429). Moreover, as captain he has won 30 of the 38. It must be noted that Gill and Abhishek Sharma, as the opening pair, have tallied 560 runs in 17 innings which is 22.44% contribution to the team score. Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal have made 527 runs in 10 innings for a team contribution percentage of 30.22, whereas Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson have made 330 runs in 13 innings for a team contribution percentage of 12.79. Both Gill and Yadav have not been on good nick this year, but Gill has been sidelined and Yadav retained for his leadership, which in a way says that no one wants to bring back Hardik Pandya (16 matches, 10 wins, 5 losses,1 tie) as captain!