Former Australia captain and current Punjab Kings head coach Ricky Ponting has expressed his shock after India left out Shubman Gill from the T20 World
Cup squad.
Shubman Gill, the current Test and ODI captain, was omitted from the T20 World Cup side amid a run of underwhelming scores. Gill, who was part of the Indian T20 team in the last few series, failed to score consistent runs and was eventually dropped.
Sanju Samson, a player who has shone at the top for India, has been picked in the World Cup along with Abhishek Sharma, another revelation in the shortest format of the game.
Amid this, Ponting revealed he was massively surprised when the Punjab-born found no place in the India team.
"I couldn't believe that. I mean, I know his recent form hasn't been great in white-ball cricket. The last time that I really saw much of him play was the Test series against England in the UK, where he batted as well as I've ever seen anybody bat. I think, one, I'm surprised, but two, it just shows the depth of Indian cricket," Ponting was quoted as saying on ICC Review.
"If you can think that someone as good as Shubman Gill doesn't get picked in a World Cup squad, then it goes to show how many good players they do have," the PBKS head coach added.
Gill, much to his disappointment, has been out of form in the T20Is. The India star had an outstanding Test series against England, but couldn't continue his scoring spree in the Asia Cup and the subsequent bilateral assignments.
India T20 World Cup 2026 Squad
Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel (VC), Rinku Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Washington Sundar, Ishan Kishan (WK)
