Shubman's Gill dramatic last-minute entry into the T20I set-up as vice-captain for the Asia Cup confirms that he is destined to be India's next all-format captain.
The Test skipper had not been in the selection committee's scheme of things till late on Monday as the team management didn't want to tinker with the core group of players who had achieved success in 13 of the 15 matches since Gautam Gambhir's arrival as head coach.
But it was hard to dismiss Gill's fine run in England — a record 754 runs — and his aggressive leadership, which paved the way for sharing the honours during the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. His IPL record has also been equally outstanding in the last edition, when he was the fourth-highest run-getter with 650 at a strike-rate of 155.87.
It didn't take much doing to include Gill in the 15-member squad once the Ajit Agarkar-led panel settled down at the Cricket Centre in Mumbai with captain Suryakumar Yadav to select the side on Tuesday. BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia's late arrival because of flight disruptions led to an hour's delay.
It is understood that Gambhir joined the selectors on Zoom during the meeting.
It is only a matter of time before Gill, 25, replaces Rohit Sharma and Surya — who are in the last leg of their careers at 38 and 34 years, respectively — as ODI and T20I captains.
The selectors and head coach agreed that it was necessary to groom someone keeping the future in mind and it was prudent to invest in Gill since he would serve the game for long.
"We obviously see some leadership qualities in him (Gill), and his form in England was what we were hoping for. (He) exceeded all our expectations, which is a great sign when there's so much pressure as captain," Agarkar said at a media conference.
Gill was vice-captain in the last T20I series he played in July 2024 in Sri Lanka, but had not been included in any of the subsequent series as India had prioritised an aggressive and explosive brand of cricket. Axar Patel was the vice-captain in the home series against England in January.
"The last time he played T20 for India, post T20 World Cup, when we went to Sri Lanka — not Zimbabwe — when I was leading, he was the vice-captain," Surya reminded after the selection meeting.
"So that's where we started a new cycle. After that, he got busy with all the Test series... he was busy playing Test cricket and Champions Trophy. So (now) he's there in the squad, and we're happy to have him."
Gill's inclusion implies that he and Abhishek Sharma will open the innings, with Sanju Samson having to sit out. The selectors had dithered on Gill since they didn't want a situation where he wasn't part of the playing XI.
It, however, meant that there was no place for Yashasvi Jaiswal. Till Gill crashed through the doors, Jaiswal had been comfortably placed to be in the squad. Shreyas Iyer, too, stays out of favour.
With Samson being a top-order batter, it is being assumed that Jitesh Sharma could be the chosen wicketkeeper in the team because of his ability to finish matches as was seen in the IPL.
Tilak Varma and Surya will be up next in the batting order followed by Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel and Jitesh. Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh will be the pacers along with Pandya.
Varun Chakravarthy will be the specialist spinner, while it will be a toss-up between Shivam Dube and Kuldeep Yadav depending on the conditions in Dubai.
"It's a good tournament to test ourselves. After this, there are a lot of T20s — close to 20-22 T20Is in total — before we play our first game in the World Cup, so I think the journey starts from the Asia Cup," Surya said.
