Soon after India announced their squad for the T20 World Cup 2026, a big debate started as vice captain Shubman Gill was dropped from the 15-member squad. Former India opener Aakash Chopra shared his views on the decision. He said Gill should never have been the first-choice opener in T20 cricket.
Speaking on his official YouTube channel on Monday, Chopra said Yashasvi Jaiswal should have been picked ahead of Gill. According to him, Jaiswal looks more suited to the T20 format. Chopra also felt that India would not have faced the problem of dropping an opener if Jaiswal had been backed from the start.
Aakash Chopra feels Yashasvi Jaiswal should have been first choice
“The way Yashasvi Jaiswal plays, logically, he should come in the team first, and he was there. He was part of the team in the 2024 T20 World Cup. He didn’t get a chance to play for a simple reason that there was no place. He even scored a century when he played before that. His name is there among the six Indians to have scored centuries in all formats,” Chopra said.
He added that Jaiswal later lost his place due to team combinations and frequent Test matches.
“However, there were a lot of Tests after that, and he wasn’t picked for T20s. It was believed that Yashasvi was ahead in the pecking order. In the interim, Abhishek and Sanju opened and did well, and suddenly you realize there is no place. After that, when the question of another opener came, India went with Shubman Gill,” Chopra added.
Chopra also said Gill becoming vice-captain made him undroppable.
“They not only went with him, but they also made him the vice-captain, which means he cannot be dropped. I had picked Yashasvi in the Asia Cup team I had picked. However, Shubman became the vice-captain, and the rest, as they say, is history. So Yashasvi, who was actually a frontrunner, was forgotten,” Chopra expressed.
India will now open with Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson. Ishan Kishan is also available as backup. The Suryakumar Yadav-led side will hope to defend their title with this squad.
India squad for T20 World Cup 2026:
Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh.
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