India’s Test and ODI captain Shubman Gill played his first Vijay Hazare Trophy match of the 2025-26 season for Punjab on Tuesday (January 6) in Jaipur, but in the fixture where Goa posted a target of 212
runs, Gill could only manage to score 11 runs from 12 balls. The 26-year-old right-handed batter, who was dropped from India’s T20 World Cup 2026 squad last month, opened the innings for the Prabhsimran Singh-led side at KL Saini Stadium in Jaipur but returned back to the pavilion in the fifth over itself.
On the first ball of the fifth over, Suyash Prabhudesai completed Gill’s catch to help Vasuki Koushik bag his second wicket of the day.
Before making his way to the dugout, Gill slammed two fours.
Gill, who made his ODI captaincy debut for Team India on October 19, 2025, could play Punjab’s last Elite Group C match against Mumbai on Thursday (January 8), but chances of that happening are very slim.
The BCCI has made it mandatory for all the players to play at least two matches of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, but since India’s ODI series against New Zealand is starting on January 11, Gill might leave the Punjab camp in Jaipur to join the India squad in Vadodara for the home series preparation.
Iyer shines
India’s ODI vice-captain Shreyas Iyer was also in action on Tuesday but unlike Gill, he impressed with his batting. The 31-year-old right-handed batter made his much-awaited return to competitive cricket on Tuesday in Jaipur and batted at No. 4 for Mumbai in their sixth Elite Group C match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26 against Himachal Pradesh at Jaipuria Vidhyalaya Ground.
He scored 82 runs from 53 balls and slammed 10 fours and 3 sixes during his stay at the crease.
Apart from Shreyas, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube and Sarfaraz Khan were also in action for Mumbai, but they could only manage to register scores of 15, 24, 20 and 21 runs, respectively.
While Jaiswal was sent back to the pavilion by KKR pace bowler Vaibhav Arora, Kushal Pal dismissed Surya, and Abhishek M. Kumar picked up the prized wickets of Sarfaraz and Dube.
