BCCI Blasted Over Call On Shubman Gill Ahead Of T20 World Cup. But There's A Twist

Former Indian cricket team batter Mohammad Kaif blasted the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee for dropping Shubman Gill just ahead of the T20 World Cup. Gill was part of the side in Asia Cup - a decision that resulted in Sanju Samson losting his preferred batting spot and struggling to find a place in the middle order. Gill did not perform well and that also led to his opening partner Abhishek Sharma coming under more pressure to score runs at the top of the innings. While Kaif was in favour of excluding Gill from the World Cup squad, he believes that Gill should have been dropped much earlier. He added that the selectors should rather have invested in players like Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jitesh Sharma rather than giving more chances to the out-of-form Gill.

“They knew there were better players, I am talking about the T20 format. Just this one. There were better players than Gill. So it was the mistake of the selectors. They have made a mistake and Indian cricket has gone behind. For two to three months, you could have invested in Jaiswal, Samson, and Jitesh,” Kaif said on his YouTube channel.

Gill was named vice-captain for the Asia Cup after he made a return to the T20I side, snubbing Axar Patel. While the all-rounder was once again named deputy to skipper Suryakumar Yadav after Gill's exclusion, Kaif was not happy and said that Axar should have been allowed to hone his leadership skills.

“It is a loss for Axar Patel, who returns as vice-captain and for the Indian team as well. The squad is still solid and there is no doubt. But if Axar had continued as vice-captain, he would have been a part of this team meeting, and he would have gotten time to work on his leadership. Let's assume Surya gets injured, then if Axar had had those two to three months as vice-captain, he would know more about his team and the players. If he has to captain, he would have been better prepared, so that opportunity was taken away from him,” Kaif added.

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Mohammad Kaif Shubman Gill Axar Patel Cricket