The IPL trophy could be Shubman Gill's T20I ticket. It can be

Shubman Gill was already here. Not in this place, not in this final, but in this exact position. The IPL is running on itself, the T20I door is seemingly ajar, the question hangs in the air. In 2024, he scored 426 runs in 12 IPL games and still did not make the T20 World Cup squad. He returned as vice-captain in 2025, scored 650 IPL runs and was told the door was open. Then in December, Chief Collector Ajit Agarkar picked up the phone and told him it was closed again.

The reason this time was cold and statistical. In the 15 T20Is leading up to the World Cup squad announcement, Gill failed to score even a half-century, averaging under 25 at a strike rate of under 140. Voters wanted power at the top.

Ishan Kishan, who was out of T20I cricket since 2023, came back with 517 runs in 10 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy matches with close to 200 knocks and that was it. One phone call shattered Gill’s World Cup dream. One memorable innings revived Kishan’s international career. Such are the edges.

And yet here he is. The question is whether the runs are simply too loud to ignore this time around. Shubman Gill hits match-winning century vs RR to help GT reach IPL 2026 final (Reuters Photo)

After winning Qualifier 2 in Chandigarh, where he hit a 53-ball 103, Gill was measured but unequivocal.

“I will be happy to play if I am selected in the T20 team. And honestly, I want to keep working hard. It doesn’t matter what format it is. I want to keep improving as a T20, ODI and Test batter. Cricket is that kind of game — you can never be perfect, but of course you strive for that and I like that.”

The careful wording is intentional. Gill knows that the conversation around T20Is has never been straightforward and he is not about to complicate it on the eve of the final. But strip away the diplomacy and the message is clear: the door may have been closed to him, but he’s still standing outside it, spending two months building the loudest possible case to have it reopened.

INJURY RATE MATTERS

Because Gill’s case has never been stronger. This IPL he has scored 722 runs at a strike rate of 163.72. The last number matters more than you might think. His career IPL success rate hovers in the low 140s. A difference of almost 20 runs per hundred balls is no accident. Gill consciously recalibrated his game to the shortest format, batting with intent and aggression that for the first time muted the strike-rate conversation rather than fueled it.

When even Agarkar said in December — the same month he made the phone call to drop Gill from the World Cup squad — that there was no doubt about his talent, that told you something. The door was not permanently closed. It was turning down a version of Gill that the selectors felt was not attacking hard enough, fast enough.

This version no longer exists on the evidence of this IPL.

STILL NOT LIVE?

And yet the structural problem remains. India’s T20I top order is cluttered in a way that clearly doesn’t suit him. Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson, who opened in the World Cup, are in no rush.

And then there’s the latest complication: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi who announced himself to the world with some violence in this IPLa gleeful disregard for a reputation that selectors simply can’t look away from. The teenager is hitting at the top, hitting at a rate that makes even Gill’s improved numbers look conservative, and carrying the kind of novelty and excitement that selection committees usually fall for. 776 runs at a strike rate of 237 and a record 72 sixes.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi vs Srh – 97 ( short ball with a hinge , caught at third man )

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi vs Srh – 96 (Short ball from Rabada, caught at third man)

Back to myself I grieve for Vaibhav.

Sanju samson wc campaign 2.0? pic.twitter.com/38FUVIwz4c— CRICitism (@CRICitism) May 29, 2026

The selectors said they preferred a wicketkeeper-batsman at the top adds another layer—Kishan or Samson bring retention options. In other words, the queue is long and getting longer. Gill’s case must overcome a structural problem that goes beyond his own numbers.

It is also, paradoxically, too important in other formats. Five days after that final, he leads India in a one-off Test against Afghanistan. He is the ODI and Test captain, the destined next face of Indian cricket, a man built for the long game. The T20I issue for its surroundings can act as a distraction from this larger project.

Gill apparently doesn’t see it that way.

WHAT ABOUT PATIDAR?

In contrast, the Patidar’s path may actually be easier, if not less competitive.

He is not fighting for the opening slot. A T20I middle order with various moving parts around Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya has more scope to absorb a player of his profile – a 32-year-old who bats at No. 4 or 5, hits close to 200 and wins matches in big moments rather than just comfortable ones.

And if RCB win on Sunday, Patidar will become only the third captain in IPL history after MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharmafor raising titles back to back. This is not footnote territory. This is the kind of company that reshapes the entire story of a cricketer.

RAJAT PATIDAR ON THE INDIA CAPTAINCY.

“I am not thinking about India’s T20 captaincy.

His focus is simple — to win another title for RCB.

Driving without chasing the spotlight. pic.twitter.com/7A1zgaZ7SS— Aman Sharma (@amancrick_news) May 30, 2026

The argument against Patidar is simply that nobody was paying attention – and after this IPL, that excuse is running out.

Patidar addressed the press in Ahmedabad on Saturday evening. When the T20I selection question came – framed around whether he envisioned himself as India’s future T20 captain – he picked up the dead bat and left it there. “I don’t see myself as a T20 captain in India. But at the same time, every captain wants to win trophies.” And then he directly asked if he was looking forward to the India selection interview: “The answer to your first question is that I am not looking forward to any India selection. So I am not looking forward to it.”

It was a master class in saying nothing. But the context around Patidar makes nothing quite loud.

The 32-year-old from Madhya Pradesh has by all reasonable standards been one of the IPL’s most impressive performers this season, 486 runs at a strike rate in excess of 200, finishing with 93 off 33 balls against Mohammed Siraj and Kagiso Rabada in Qualifier 1. For someone who signed up and played only a handful of ODI Tests, the IPL suddenly made him impossible to ignore. Rajat Patidar was in the form of his life in the middle order for RCB (Photo Reuters)

However, his answer about the captaincy is more revealing than meets the eye. “I’ve never thought about what another captain has done. Wherever I am, I focus on what I do best.” And on handling pressure: “It’s important to be yourself and focus on your strengths rather than what you can’t control. I always like to tell them about levels of control.”

Control levels. It is perhaps the most accurate description of how a Patidar works – in the fold, at press conferences and apparently everywhere in between.

The selectors will meet soon after this IPL to select the T20I squad for Ireland and England. For the Patidars, a win on Sunday will remove almost all remaining hurdles. For Gill, it adds the loudest possible chapter to an argument he has been making for three years now, but the structural problem at the top of India’s order will not go away with the trophy. An IPL title is not the primary key. But it is, as both men know, the best argument available.

– The end

Published on:

31 May 2026 14:23 IST