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Published : 20 Dec 2025, 06:56 PM
India's Test and one-day captain Shubman Gill could not find a place in their 15-member squad for next year's home Twenty20 World Cup, but stumper-batter Ishan Kishan returned to the side on Saturday.
Opener Gill has gone 18 innings in T20 Internationals without a 50 and missed Friday's match against South Africa with a foot injury.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson has impressed in limited opportunities and made a breezy 37 as Abhishek Sharma's opening partner in the 30-run win over the South Africans in Ahmedabad.
"It's more to do with the combination that we want to play, or what the team management is comfortable with playing," chief selector Ajit Agarkar told reporters in Mumbai.
"We felt the keeper at the top at this point gives us a lot more solidity than anywhere else in the team to play different combinations.
"There are only 15 that we could have picked. Someone has to miss out. It's him. It's not because he's not a good player."
Kishan was recalled after he led Jharkhand's successful campaign in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, smashing a hundred in Friday's final against Haryana.
The same squad will play a five-match home T20 series against New Zealand next month.
Jasprit Bumrah will lead India's pace attack that also contains left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh.
Varun Chakaravarthy will spearhead the spin department, which also includes left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav.
India will also expect Hardik Pandya, their premier seam-bowling all-rounder, to play a crucial role in their title defence in the tournament to be played from Feb 7 to Mar 8 across eight venues in India and Sri Lanka.
India squad:
Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel (vice captain), Rinku Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Washington Sundar, Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper)
