No Gill as India announce squad for T20 World Cup

Hosts and defending champions India announced a 15-member squad for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup today with star batter Shubman Gill not making the cut and wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan making a comeback.

Gill's T20 form was the centre of discussion in the buildup to the squad announcement. Given Sanju Samson's red-hot form, pressure was mounting of Gill to perform, but the right-hander failed to impress in his three knocks against South Africa in the recently concluded home series, which led to him losing his place in the squad.

The right-hander was without a 50-plus score in his last 18 knocks in T20Is. Against the Proteas, he made four, 0 and a run-a-ball 28 in his three outings respectively.

Meanwhile, Ishan was rewarded for his brilliant performances in the domestic Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy tournament, returning to the T20I side after over two years.

However, India is likely to opt for Samson in the opening slot in place of Gill, who can also keep wickets.

There were no other surprises in the rest of the squad. The Surya Kumar Yadav-led side will begin their campaign against the USA on February 7.

India is the first team to announce the final squad for the 20-team event, set to take place in India and Sri Lanka from February 7. The other hosts Sri Lanka announced a preliminary 25-member squad a day before.

India squad: Surya Kumar Yadav (c), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel (vc), Rinku Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy, Washington Sundar, Ishan Kishan (wk)