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'Its The Combination More Than Anything Else', Says Agarkar On Gills Axing From T20 WC Squad

Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Team Indias squad for the T20 World Cup 2026 was announced on Saturday, with a major shock coming in the form of Shubman Gill being dropped from the side. Axar Patel took his position as the vice-captain, while Ishan Kishan made a dream comeback to the international setup. The other change in the squad saw Jitesh Sharma being dropped to make way for Rinku Singh. With Gill out of the side, Sanju Samson will return to the top of the order for India and will likely keep the gloves after his impressive performance in the recently concluded fifth T20I against South Africa on Friday. In a joint press conference held at the Board of Control for Cricket in Indias (BCCI) headquarters here, secretary Devajit Saikia, Indias T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav and chief selector Ajit Agarkar addressed the media. Excerpts from the press conference: On the decision to drop Gill from the World Cup squad, chief selector Agarkar said, Were looking at continuity; we want a keeper batting at the top. We know what a quality player Shubman is, even though hes not found runs recently. Its the combination more than anything else. Some people are going to miss out on a particular format because they are playing in another. Lets not make much of it. Over the last few years, Gill has been the No.1 batter in the world. He knows what he has to do, he knows whats needed, and hopefully by the time the WC comes by, hell be back to being No.1. We have always kept discussing what the best combination is, or what the best way forward is. Was somebodys position compromised? Nobody is talking about (Yashasvi) Jaiswal, he was in the last T20 WC squad and now hes not here. So, like I said, this is the best combination that we configured for the upcoming tournament, he added. On Ishan Kishan making an international comeback and his selection for the World Cup after recent Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy heroics, Agarkar said, He bats at the top in white-ball cricket and hes been in good form. We felt a keeper at the top gives us more combinations. With a plethora of all-rounders being named in the squad, Agarkar said, The inclusion of so many all-rounders gives us flexibility. There are a couple of all-rounders in Axar and Washi. We are very fortunate to have a couple of wrist spinners as well. The combination we will play depends on the team we play; itll be decided on the day, but weve got a lot more options to work with. Speaking of the deserving players who missed the cut and the options unexplored, Agarkar opined, Even if you discuss 10 other names, this is the 15 we have picked for now. Its always nice when players are performing across different tournaments, but this right now is what we believe is a formidable team. Indias T20I skipper Suryakumar said that he was happy with the selection calls, saying that the squad looked balance. The squad looks balanced; weve filled all the spots really well and have a lot of different combinations. So were quite happy, he said. On Gills exclusion, he said, Its not about his form or anything; its just about combinations. We wanted to have a keeper at the top, and someone like Rinku or Washington in the lower order. Speaking on Tilak Varmas position, he said, Me and Gauti bhai (Gautam Gambhir) have started to feel that the left-right combination is a little overrated, but we have fixed that position in the batting order for Tilak. On the teams top-order combination, the skipper said, Its important to have a good start in this format. We wanted to win the PowerPlay, and when we analysed how we could do that, we decided to go ahead with this combination. You go back to your old videos where youve been batting well. Ive actually been batting beautifully in the nets. Suryas recent form has been a major point of discussion. When asked about the skipper added, This patch has been a little long; everyone goes through this in their careers. I know what to do and what to work on, and we have five matches against New Zealand where I can find some form. On the teams top-order combination, the skipper said, Its important to have a good start in this format. We wanted to win the PowerPlay, and when we analysed how we could do that, we decided to go ahead with this combination. You go back to your old videos where youve been batting well. Ive actually been batting beautifully in the nets. Also Read: Live Cricket Score India's Squad: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Tilak Varma, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Axar Patel (vice-captain), Arshdeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Kuldeep Yadav. Article Source: IANS