'I am where I am supposed to be' - Shubman Gill breaks silence on being dropped from T20I side

Ace batter Shubman Gill came forward and answered a tough ask regarding his snub from the Indian T20I side ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026. Despite being the vice-captain of the side in the preceding series, Gill has dropped from the Suryakumar Yadav-led side for the global tournament. The 26-year-old believes that destiny chose this situation for him, and that he is willing to accept the fate.

Gill believes that whatever happened regarding the team selection is a call that he had no part to play in. Addressing the media ahead of the first ODI against New Zealand, Gill has said that he respects the decision taken by the selection committee in not picking him for the main event, further wishing the team a good luck to defend the title.

“Firstly, it is my belief that in my life, I am where I am supposed to be. Whatever is written in my destiny, I will have it. As a player, I want to win games for my team, but having said that, I respect the selectors’ decision. I wish the T20 team the very best. I hope that they win the World Cup,” Gill said at the pre-match press conference.

After a string of underwhelming performances in the shortest format of the game throughout the year, the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee came to a conclusion of ignoring Gill from India's plans in T20Is. As a result, he was replaced by Sanju Samson as the preferred opening partner to Abhishek Sharma, whereas, Axar Patel was re-appointed as the deputy in-charge.

The Men in Blue will begin their title defence at the showpiece event with the group stage match against the United States of America on February 7. They are also slated to play Namibia (February 10), Pakistan (February 14) and the Netherlands (February 18) to finish their group stage campaign. If they end in the top two from their group, the Super 8s will follow.

India squad for New Zealand T20Is and T20 World Cup 2026: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Axar Patel (vice-captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, and Varun Chakravarthy