Shubman Gill omitted from India’s T20 World Cup 2026 squad; Axar Patel named vice-captain

India’s T20 World Cup 2026 squad has been announced, with Suryakumar Yadav as captain and Axar Patel as vice-captain. Notably, Shubman Gill has been left out following a poor T20 run, while Hardik Pandya returns to form.

Hyderabad: India star batter and captain of Test team Shubman Gill doesn’t figure in the Indian team announced for the 2026 T-20 World Cup to be held in the sub-Continent.

In a way, it was not surprising given the poor run of Gill in T-20 format having failed to score a fifty in the last 15 innings and scores only 220 runs.

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Axar Patel being named as vice captain could also be deemed a surprise given the welcome return to form by all rounder Hardik Pandya.

The return of southpaw and wicketeeper-batter Ishan Kishan, who led Jharkhand form the front to title triumph in the recent Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy scoring 517 runs including a brilliant century in the final, was understandable and good that the selectors have given due importance to his consistency in the country’s premier T-20 tournament.

India’s squad for T20 World Cup 2026 and New Zealand T20Is: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel (VC), Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (wk), Washington Sundar, Ishan Kishan, Rinku Singh.