Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill on Saturday said he respects the Indian selectors’ shock decision to drop him from the squad for the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup on home soil, calling it “fate”.
The 26-year-old will lead India’s one-day squad in a three-match series against New Zealand, starting in Vadodara on Sunday, before embarking on a five-match T20I series.
Having scored just 291 runs at an average of 24.25 in the last 15 matches, the Indian selectors surprisingly dropped the batsman from the T20I squad.
“First of all, my belief is that I’m where I’m supposed to be in my life. Whatever’s written in my destiny, I’ll get it,” Gill told reporters.
“As a player I want to win games for my team, but having said that, I respect the decision of the selectors. I wish the T20 team the best. I hope they win the World Cup.”
India, led by Suryakumar Yadav, are the defending champions in the T20 World Cup to be held in India and Sri Lanka from February 7 to March 8.
First, India will play the ODIs against New Zealand with focus on Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
Kohli and Rohit play only in the ODI format after their World Cup win in Barbados in 2024 — and their retirement from T20s in Test cricket.
Gill said the presence of the two legends is invaluable for any captain.
“Certainly having these two guys on your team makes your life a lot easier,” Gill said.
“Whenever you’re in a tough situation, they’ve always been in similar situations and conditions many times in their life, so you can always go to them and see how they think or what they’ll do, and that information is very valuable to any captain.”
The 37-year-old Kohli and 38-year-old Rohit have been in excellent batting form in both international and domestic cricket, clocking up centuries and runs.