Out-of-form vice-captain Shubman Gill was left out of the 15-man Indian team selected for the home T20 World Cup by the national selection committee on Saturday in a daring move.
In addition to the return of an in-form Ishan Kishan, who pipped Jitesh Sharma as the second wicketkeeper behind Sanju Samson, all-rounder Axar Patel was selected vice-captain of the team.
Ajit Agarkar, the chairman of the selectors, said that Gill’s lack of runs led to his removal from the team.
“Obviously he (Gill) has been short of runs and since he wasn’t picked, we needed a vice-captain,” Agarkar said at the press conference in Mumbai.
Jitesh was replaced as the designated finisher by Rinku Singh, who was a member of the winning Asia Cup team. Ishan will be the backup opener in addition to being the second keeper.
Squad: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel (vc), Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (wk), Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Ishan Kishan (wk), Rinku Singh
