New Delhi: With no fifty in his last 17 T20I innings, pressure is mounting on Shubman Gill . The team management and the selectors are also facing the heat for giving him a long rope, despite the extended period of poor returns in the shortest format of the game. The absence of Sanju Samson, who, astonishingly, can’t find a place in the playing XI either as an opener or as a wicket-keeper, has put the team management in an awkward situation ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026, and there is an urgent need to address the issue before the Men In Blue begin their title defence at home in early February.

When Gill returned to the T20I setup in the Asia Cup 2025 squad as part of India’s plans to groom him into an all-format leader, Samson and Abhishek Sharma had formed a solid opening partnershi

See Full Page