"Where does he come in suddenly?" - Former India selector doesn't see Shubman Gill in playing XI for Asia Cup 2025

Former India opener and ex-chief selector Kris Srikkanth doesn't see a place for Shubman Gill in the playing XI for Asia Cup 2025. Questioning the chatter around his T20I comeback, the 1983 World Cup star pointed out that the Indian Test captain had not played the previous T20 World Cup and did not feature in the five-match home against England as well earlier this year.

Team India's squad for Asia Cup 2025 is likely to be announced in Mumbai on Tuesday, August 19. Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson are likely to be picked as first-choice openers. However, a number of reports have suggested that Gill is likely to make a comeback to the T20I team following his batting exploits in the five-match Test series in England.

While discussing Team India's probable squad for Asia Cup 2025, Srikkanth opined that while he might be picked, the Indian Test captain doesn't fit in the T20I playing XI as of now. Speaking on his YouTube channel 'Cheeky Cheeka', he said:

"If Shubman Gill was the captain [in T20Is], he would have automatically come into the playing XI. Then, there would be no Sai Sudharsan, Yashasvi Jaiswal or Vaibhav Suryavanshi. Gill would have opened straightaway. But, Gill wasn't part of the T20 World Cup. Where does he come in suddenly?

"He was not even in the T20I team against England. Yes, he has been doing very well recently, but we can't make selection calls like that," the 65-year-old went on to add.

Named Test captain for the tour of England following Rohit Sharma's retirement from red-ball cricket, Gill amassed 754 runs in five games at an average of 75.40. He hammered four hundreds, including a career-best of 269 and also broke a number of prominent batting records during the Test series.

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What is Shubman Gill's record in T20I cricket?

Gill made his T20I debut for India in January 2023 in a match against Sri Lanka at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The 25-year-old has so far featured in 21 matches in the format and has scored 578 runs at an average of 30.42 and a decent strike rate of 139.27.

The right-handed batter has one hundred and three fifties to his name in T20Is. His best of 126* was registered against New Zealand in Ahmedabad in February 2023. The blazing knock came off just 63 balls and featured 12 fours and seven sixes.