T20 World Cup selection - Is Gill assured of his spot or does Kishan have a strong case?

Shubman Gill's recent T20I returns should have drawn sharper scrutiny: he has gone 18 innings without a half-century. Even if the lens were to shift from just numbers to his impact at the top, it wouldn't look much better.

Innings such as the match-winning 28-ball 47 against Pakistan at the 2025 Asia Cup in September - his comeback series - have been few and far between. In the ongoing T20I series against South Africa, he has scores of 4, 0 and 28 with one game left to play.

That said, Gill continues to be viewed through a longer-term prism.

Currently India's T20I vice-captain, he enjoys a degree of security that suggests his place is unlikely to be seriously reconsidered with the T20 World Cup just over a month away.

The call may have been trickier had India already exhausted their available fixtures prior to the World Cup. Instead, five T20Is against New Zealand offer Gill a valuable runway to rediscover rhythm before India's tournament opener against USA on February 7 in Mumbai.

Ideally, 517 runs (the most in the competition) along with 33 sixes (also the highest) at a strike rate of 197.32 in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy would have been a compelling enough reason to bring anyone back. But the complication is that all of Ishan Kishan's runs have come at the top of the order, a slot where India appear largely settled, unless Gill's prolonged dip in form triggers a rethink.

For now, Gill and Abhishek Sharma remain the preferred opening pair. With Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav - himself in a rut - set to round out the top four, Kishan's pathway narrows to that of a back-up opener and wicketkeeper at best.

Even there, it's likely Sanju Samson is ahead in the queue. Samson briefly appeared to have cemented his position in the first XI as an opener after his three T20I centuries in 2024, but Gill's return effectively reset that possibility.

At the Asia Cup, India picked Rinku Singh over Washington Sundar in the 15-man squad, and Rinku made his only chance count by hitting the winning runs in the final against Pakistan. The equation shifted in Australia, where Hardik Pandya's quadriceps injury created room for both players. In the ongoing T20Is, however, with Hardik back fit, the balance has tilted back in Washington's favour.

Since taking over as head coach in July 2024, Gautam Gambhir has shown a clear preference for allrounders over specialists, especially in the middle order.

With Shivam Dube effectively locked in as a like-for-like cover for the injury-prone Hardik, Washington's additional value as an offspinner strengthens his case as the middle-order back-up, pushing Rinku back to the fringes for a second straight T20 World Cup cycle even though he hasn't done much wrong.