“He is destined to lead India in the future” - Sunil Gavaskar backs Shubman Gill becoming T20I vice-captain

Former Indian captain and commentator Sunil Gavaskar has backed the selection committee’s decision to announce Shubman Gill as the new vice-captain of the Indian T20I team for the forthcoming Asia Cup 2025 campaign, scheduled to start on Tuesday, September 9.

With Gill coming afresh from the England tour, having accumulated 754 runs from 10 innings at an average of an excellent 75.4, Gavaskar feels it was the right decision by the selectors. Moreover, he felt Gill was destined to lead the Indian T20I team in the near future.

“He scored over 750 runs just a couple of weeks ago. You cannot exclude a player in that kind of form. Giving him the vice-captaincy is also a way of telling him that in the future, he could be leading the T20 side. I think it's a very, very good selection,” Gavaskar told India Today.

“He was very impressive in England as well. To score 750-plus runs while leading the side for the first time shows how well he handled pressure. This vice-captaincy is a clear sign that he is destined to lead India in the future,” he added.

It’s important to note that Gill last played a T20I in July 2024 against Sri Lanka. With his comeback to the T20I team, Samson might have to step away from the playing XI as Gill is expected to open the innings alongside Abhishek Sharma. 

Interestingly, selectors have omitted players like Shreyas Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal from the final 15.

India's squad for Asia Cup 2025: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (WK), Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh.

Standby: Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

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