Shubman Gill is slowly bringing to reality a leading role in India T20i at the Asia Cup 2025 in the UAE next month. The move is even though he has not featured in the three T20I bilateral series that India played against Bangladesh, South Africa, and England.
Gill is purportedly being looked upon by selectors not only as a top-order batter but also potentially a leader. There are two important reasons that are pushing this toward. To begin with, India have never played with a full-strength T20I team after the victory in the T20 World Cup in the West Indies last June. Although Gill did not figure in that World Cup team, he led a young Indian team on a tour of Zimbabwe shortly after the win and he was also the vice-captain in the T20I series against Sri Lanka. But due to increased needs in other formats and especially Test cricket selectors had temporarily shifted him out of the shortest format.
Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson starred with blistering centuries playing at the top order, in absence of the former Rajasthan captain. However, the brilliant performance of Gill in recent five-Test England tour where he scored a blistering 754 runs has rendered it exceedingly tough to ignore him in the major tournaments such as the Asia Cup.
According to former India selector Devang Gandhi, Shubman Gill has the qualities of a batter and a leader having checked all the boxes, especially his IPL captaincy experience. He said India is used to stability in leadership of any form not divided captains, particularly when there is availability of prolific player or all-formats.
Still, marketability is regarded as well. The increased brand value of Gill also means he is a welcome personality in the Indian cricket circles which tend to give preference to strong players who have widespread popularity amidst people. As the future captaincy of Suryakumar Yadav is debated, Gill has now emerged in a good position to do the bulk of work in T20Is.
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