India selected their 15-member squad for the upcoming Asia Cup on Tuesday with Shubman Gill making his way back into the national T20I team for the first time since June 2024. Former India player Aakash Chopra said that this means that the 25-year-old, who is already the Test captain is being prepared to lead India as an all-format skipper in the near future.
“Shubman Gill is the new vice-captain for India’s T20I team. What does it mean? It means that India is heading towards him being the all-format captain. He is the Test captain, will eventually be the ODI captain and if he is the vice-captain of the T20I side, that means a future captain is being prepared,” Chopra said on X.
The player turned commentator though said that the inclusion of Gill in the team as the deputy of captain Suryakumar Yadav means that his place in the playing XI was set and in case Gill opens, that would probably leave out Sanju Samson.
🇮🇳 #AsiaCup Squad announced – Gill named Vice-Captain. What do you think of the squad? Any surprises? #Aakashvani pic.twitter.com/2CuWdy1C1N
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) August 19, 2025
“If he’s he vice-captain, he’ll play. He’s also likely to open. And if he opens, who will miss out? Sanju Samson might miss out on his place in the playing XI. This is the reason Jitesh Sharma’s name is in the team. Because you need a middle-order keeper-batter. So Jitesh has been rewarded for his wonderful performance in the IPL for RCB,” he said.
On Shreyas and Axar
He also weighed in on why Shreyas Iyer was left out of the team even with back to back stellar IPL campaigns and also said that it was a bit unfair that Axar Patel lost the vice-captaincy despite playing well.
“There is no place for Shreyas Iyer. What does it mean? The reason might be that the team was selected based on slots. Tilak is at 3, Surya is at 4, Axar at 5 and Hardik at 6 so when Iyer did not fit into this combination, he was excluded. He did everything right but they couldn’t find a place for him according to the slots,” he said.
“I also feel that it was a little unfair to Axar that he is suddenly not the vice-captain any more. But that’s my opinion. Team looks fine though,” he added.
