“This will lose you the game” - Sanjay Manjrekar takes a dig at Shubman Gill after his exclusion from T20Is

Former Indian cricketer and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has taken a dig at the Indian opening batter Shubman Gill, who has been excluded from the Indian squad for the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 campaign, starting on Saturday, February 7, in India and Sri Lanka.

Taking to his official X handle, Manjrekar stated that Gill couldn’t manage a half-century in the last 20 innings. Interestingly, Gill was elevated as the vice-captain of the side before the start of the Asia Cup 2025 campaign, but has been omitted from the squad for the marquee event due to poor form.

"He hasn’t got a single 50 in 20 innings. A stat often cited to suggest loss of form. T20s is & will always be about strike rates. The last thing you want is an out-of-form batter playing cautiously when he comes close to 50. This will lose you the game."

https://x.com/sanjaymanjrekar/status/2003322633081995423 

Speaking about Gill's numbers in 2025, he has played 15 T20Is, scoring only 291 runs at an average of 24.25 and a strike rate of 137.26, with the highest score of 47. Furthermore, the former cricketer stated that selectors rectified the mistake after being a bit carried away after the England tour. For the unversed, Gill finished the Anderson Tendulkar Trophy with 774 runs at an average of 75.40, including four centuries.

"When you pick someone excitedly on Test performance for T20s, this is what happens. Gill omission is basically selectors rectifying a mistake they made when they got a bit carried away after the England tour," he wrote.

https://x.com/sanjaymanjrekar/status/2002375151376298005 

India’s T20 World Cup 2026 Squad: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Ishan Kishan (wk), Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Rinku Singh.

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