Shubman Gill returns to India's T20I squad as vice-captain for Asia Cup

Shubman Gill has made a comeback to India's T20I squad for the Asia Cup, replacing Axar Patel as vice-captain.

The 15-member squad, picked by the selection committee on Tuesday, will be led by Suryakumar Yadav, and includes Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson as the two other opening candidates. With Gill as vice-captain, however, he is the frontrunner for one of the slots at the top of the order.

"We obviously see some leadership qualities in him, and his form in England was what we were hoping for. [He] exceeded all our expectations, which is a great sign when there's so much pressure as captain," chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar said in Mumbai.

The middle and lower-order batting options are Suryakumar, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh and Jitesh Sharma, who could be the first-choice wicketkeeper if India decide to open with Gill and Abhishek. There are also three allrounders in Axar, Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube. The specialist bowling options are Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy and Harshit Rana, who provides some extra batting depth too.

There was no place for Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was instead among the five reserve players, along with Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel. Shreyas Iyer, who scored 604 runs at a strike rate of 175 in IPL 2025 and led Punjab Kings to the final, also did not find a place in the 15.

"With regard to Yashasvi, it's just unfortunate again," Agarkar said. "There's Abhishek Sharma: what he's done over the last year or so - plus he can bowl a little bit - he gives us that option if required. One of these guys was going to miss out. Yashasvi just has to wait for his chance.

"With regard to Shreyas, who can he replace? No fault of his, nor is it ours. At the moment, you can just pick 15. So he will have to wait for his chance."

Gill was vice-captain in the previous T20I series he had played - in Sri Lanka in July 2024 - but he had not been picked in any of the subsequent series as India prioritised his appearances in the Test and ODI formats. Axar was then appointed vice-captain for the home T20Is against England in January. Gill's return to the T20I format comes on the back of his contributions to India's Champions Trophy triumph earlier this year and his record-breaking run as batter in the five-Test series in England, where he led India to a 2-2 draw in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. He also scored 650 runs for Gujarat Titans in IPL 2025 at a strike rate of 155.87.

"Last time when he [Gill] played T20 for India, post T20 World Cup when we went to Sri Lanka - not Zimbabwe - when I was leading, he was the vice-captain," Suryakumar said after the selection meeting in Mumbai. "So that's where we started a new cycle. After that, he got busy with all the Test series, and he didn't get an opportunity to play T20s because he was busy playing Test cricket and Champions Trophy. So he's there in the squad, and we're happy to have him."

The Asia Cup is India's first T20I assignment since the bilateral series against England at home in January. India are in Group A, along with Pakistan, Oman and UAE. Their first game is against UAE in Dubai on September 10, after which they play Pakistan in Dubai on September 14, and Oman in Abu Dhabi on September 19.

"This is the first big tournament we are playing since the [2024] T20 World Cup," Suryakumar said. "We have played three-four bilateral series. It's a good tournament to test ourselves. After this, there are a lot of T20s - close to 20-22 T20s in total - before we play our first game in the [2026] World Cup, so I think the journey starts from the Asia Cup."

1 Suryakumar Yadav (capt), 2 Shubman Gill (vc), 3 Hardik Pandya, 4 Arshdeep Singh, 5 Abhishek Sharma, 6 Tilak Varma, 7 Shivam Dube , 8 Axar Patel, 9 Jitesh Sharma, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Varun Chakravarthy , 12 Kuldeep Yadav, 13 Harshit Rana, 14 Rinku Singh, 15 Sanju Samson

Reserve players: Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal