Though Shubman Gill was snubbed from the Indian team that will feature in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup, the former Australian captain Michael Clarke believes this does not change India’s plans to appoint a single captain across three formats of the game. He has backed Shubman to not only return but also take over the captaincy from Suryakumar Yadav.
India announced the T20 WC squad and shocked all with Shubman Gill’s snub from the team despite the anticipation around him being the next T20I skipper from India. Michael Clarke cited his 291 runs in 15 innings as the reason for the snub, but also claimed that this would not affect India’s long-term plans.
Suryakumar Yadav to lose Team India captaincy after ICC T20 World Cup
The message has been very clear from the Indian team management as well as the BCCI selectors that this would be Suryakumar Yadav’s final two series before calling it off to his captaincy stint for India.
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Under Surya’s leadership, India has not lost a single T20I series in the Gambhir era, and the New Zealand series will be his final bilateral series as the captain of India. Also, the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 is his first and final World Cup appearance with the captain’s band.
Suryakumar Yadav has had a decorated career and has been a special find for the Indian team in the shortest format of the game, and also won the Asia Cup as a captain, alongside defeating the likes of South Africa and Australia on their own land.
Michael Clarke reasons on Shubman Gill’s T20 World Cup snub
The former Australian great reasoned that Shubman’s snub from the upcoming World Cup squad was made by Ajit Agarkar due to his poor form, and the management made it clear that they want razor-sharp focus on their immediate goal, which is defending the World Cup title.
“He might still be (in contention). I don’t think that changes too much. I think the squads needed to be announced by a certain time, and he wasn’t batting as well as he would like. India’s got so many opening batting options; he’s not the captain of the team at this stage, so I think they pretty much made the decision,” said Clarke, mentioning that India have had abundant choices in the top order.
“They wanted these couple of warm-up games to be a real focus on what they are doing in the World Cup. There were questions about his form. They made that decision specifically in the lead-up to the World Cup,” Clarke said in the Beyond23 Cricket Podcast.
With Suryakumar Yadav’s form eluding him of further chances to feature in the Indian team, he would not be retained as the captain, and hence, this makes Shubman Gill’s case stronger in front of the BCCI selectors and the Indian management.
Clarke backs Shubman Gill to take over captaincy from Suryakumar Yadav
The former World Cup-winning Australian skipper pointed out that Shubman Gill will not just be back in the India T20I team but will also take over as the next captain after Suryakumar Yadav is relieved from the role.
Another central reason for his belief was India’s long-standing priority to have a single captain across all three formats of the game. A trend that started with MS Dhoni and was smoothly passed on to Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Ideally, Gill, being the Test and ODI captain, should be the next T20I captain as per this narrative.
“I think after the World Cup, don’t be surprised if he not only comes back into the team, but he also takes over the captaincy. He’s an unbelievable player, just not playing his best cricket at the moment. I don’t think there are too many concerns moving forward with Shubman Gill. India has made it clear we are 100 percent focused on this World Cup, and we want to win it,” he said.
