Shubman Gill didn’t come out to bat for India in the second innings of the first Test played against South Africa in Kolkata on November 16 due to a neck injury that he suffered on Day 2 of the match. Because of the injury, he didn’t feature in the second Test as well, which India lost by a record margin of 408 runs in Guwahati. He was not picked for the three-match ODI series, which India won with a scoreline of 2-1 on Saturday, December 6. But the right-handed batter was included in India’s T20I squad on December 3 for the five-match series against the Proteas starting December 9, subject to fitness clearance.
On Saturday, after India defeated South Africa by 9 wickets in the third ODI to win the series, India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir attended
the press conference in Visakhapatnam and gave a big update on Gill’s fitness.
According to Gambhir, Gill is fit to feature in the T20I series starting Tuesday (December 9) in Cuttack. The remaining four matches of the T20I series will be played on December 11 in Mullanpur, December 14 in Dharamsala, December 17 in Lucknow and December 19 in Ahmedabad.
“Shubman is ready to start; that is why he has been selected, and obviously he is fit and fine and hungry to go,” Gambhir said.
Gautam Gambhir on Shubman Gill’s availability for the SA T20s.
“Shubman is ready to gothat’s why he’s been selected. He’s obviously fit, hungry to work, and improve. And look, there are quality players in this side. As I’ve said many times, they are world-class players!”
🎥 -… pic.twitter.com/UmmKlZ4IPs
— GillTheWill (@GillTheWill77) December 6, 2025
Unlike Test and ODI, Gill is not the captain of India’s T20I team. Former world No. 1 T20I batter Suryakumar Yadav leads the Men in Blue in the 20-over format of the game, and Gill is his deputy.
Gill will open the innings for the hosts in the five T20I matches with world No. 1 T20I batter Abhishek Sharma, who won the Player Of The Series award in the Asia Cup as well as the five-match T20I series in Australia.
On Saturday, during Punjab’s sixth Elite Group C match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he entered his name in the history books by becoming the first Indian batter to hit 100 T20 sixes in a calendar year. Abhishek has 47 sixes to his name in 17 T20I matches played so far. If he manages to hit at least three sixes in the series against South Africa, then he will become the second batter from a Test-playing nation to hit 50 sixes in a calendar year.
