Although Shubman Gill is coping with his a shocking omission from the Indian T20 World Cup teamThe star batsman suffered yet another setback – he was also left out of Aakash Chopra’s alternate 15-man squad. The exclusion effectively puts Gill outside the top 30 T20 cricketers in the country, according to the former opener.
Aakash Chopra, now a leading pundit, took on the light-hearted task of picking a team from players who had been ignored by the senior selection committee headed by Ajit Agarkar. In doing so, he subtly dipped into the prevailing narrative about Gill’s role as an anchor in T20Is.
Chopra said that if the selectors felt there was no need for an accumulator in the current T20 setup, he saw no reason to include it.
“You will ask why I didn’t pick Shubman Gill. When the Indian team doesn’t need an anchor, why will I have him as an anchor? Shubman Gill is the only anomaly,” Chopra said after announcing his team that included the likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shreyas Iyer.
“We have kept him for Test cricket and ODI cricket. We have not picked him at the moment as per the narrative that has been created.
“We should have picked him, but we didn’t.
“A lot of people say I did PR work for Gill. Take it, I didn’t pick him,” he added.
Gill’s omission from the official squad was one of the biggest surprises of Saturday’s selection meeting. The vice-captain has been recalled while wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan has been included after his hat-trick for Jharkhand in the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy earlier this month. Ajit Agarkar later said that there was no doubt about Gill’s quality but the team management felt the need to accommodate the back-up keeper.
India will head into the T20 World Cup with Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma as the first openers, with Kishan as their backup.
Gill was recalled to the T20I side during the Asia Cup, prompting India to break the successful opening combination of Samson and Abhishek. Gill, who was selected as vice-captain, provoked close scrutiny as his relatively conservative approach upset the existing balance. Samson was relegated to the middle order a month after scoring three hundreds in quick succession as an opener, while Rinku Singh’s opportunities as a finisher were also limited.
Despite support from the selectors and coaching staff, Gill struggled to cement his place. The experiment continued for 15 T20Is before running out of patience. Gill scored 291 runs at an average of 24.25 and a strike rate of 137.26 during this period.
Aakash Chopra Alternate Team 15 T20 World Cup
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Rishabh Pant, Jitesh Sharma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Krunal Pandya, Deepak Chahar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Bench: Mohammed Shami, KL Rahul, Vipraj Nigam, Shashank Singh.
While leaving out Gill, Chopra named Jaiswal and Gaikwad as his opening pair. Pant and Jitesh Sharma were selected as wicketkeepers, with KL Rahul included as a reserve, although Chopra stressed that he would not be part of the playing XI.
Chopra’s most surprising selections included Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Krunal Pandya. Despite neither of them featuring prominently in recent T20I plans, the former opener backed them based on their performances for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the IPL.
– The end
Issued by:
Akshay Ramesh
Published on:
December 25, 2025
