Robin Uthappa says Indian Cricket is a Strange Place after the selection committee did not include Shubman Gill in the Indian squad for the upcoming ICC T20 Men’s World Cup 2026, which starts on the 7th of February 2026 in India and Sri Lanka. The squad will also be the same that will compete against the New Zealand team for the five-match T20I series after the ODI series is completed.
India is all set to start their ICC T20 Men’s World Cup 2026 campaign by playing against the United States of America on the 7th of February 2026, which is the third match of the opening day. Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai will be the venue for the game. Namibia, Pakistan, and the Netherlands are the other teams in India’s group. India will play Pakistan on the 15th of February 2026.
Also check out: No place for vice captain Shubman Gill in India’s T20 World Cup squad | Ishan Kishan makes a comeback
‘Indian Cricket is a Strange Place’: Robin Uthappa on not including Gill in T20 World Cup Squad
Robin Uthappa, who himself won the T20 World Cup with the Indian team in the first edition of the competition, feels there should have been a place for India’s ODI and test team captain in the World Cup squad. This was surely one of the biggest surprises the Indian selectors have dropped when they announced the 15-member squad on 20th December for the upcoming ICC event. The selectors were waiting for Gill to score some runs in the South Africa series and select him, but it did not go Gill’s way.
Indian cricket is a strange place. You would think there would be some semblance of predictability. It’s a great side, a fantastic side, no doubt. But hearts are broken for sure. I empathize with them. You’ve got to feel bad for Shubman Gill. He’s the captain of the Test and ODI side. Worst-case scenario, I thought somebody else might be named the vice-captain, but he’d find a spot in the side – maybe not in the XI, but at least as a third opener
Uthappa also spoke about how there would be many hearts that would be broken if there were no name of Gill in the Indian squad. Robin feels for Gill and also shares that his worst-case scenario would have been Gill being dropped from the vice-captain role. He also added that Gill might not have started the matches, but surely could have been selected as the third-choice opener for the team, with Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson being the main openers. Instead, India has not even thought about that.
When we look at the performance for Gill in the T20I format over the last few matches, it has not been that impressive, and you surely can’t take a risk going into a World Cup event with this when there are players performing. Shubman Gill has just scored over 170 runs in his last ten T20I innings, which surely the selectors can’t take their eyes off.
Ishan Kishan has been included in the Indian squad for his great performance in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025. He was the top scorer in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025 with 517 runs in 10 matches. Ishan also scored a century in the final and made it two in ten matches. It was under his captaincy that the Jharkhand team won its first-ever Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Sanju Samson needs to convert his starts into big innings, and now the question for the selectors will be Sanju or Ishan, who starts with Abhishek. As of now, Sanju Samson is ahead in the race.