'Take Kohli For Example...': Mohammed Kaif Reveals Why Shubman Gill Was Dropped And Not Captain Suryakumar Yadav For 2026 T20 World Cup

T20 World Cup 2026: Vice-captain Shubman Gill was dropped from India's T20 World Cup squad and that made headlines. While it is not clear why Gill was dropped, his poor form is understood to be one of the reasons for the call. Once the Gill call was taken, most argued why was captain Suryakumar Yadav not dropped as well as the latter has not been in good form as well. Former India cricketer Mohammed Kaif has now used Virat Kohli's example to point out why the call may have been taken. 

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‘Surya has been a proven match-winner’

As per Kaif, Suryakumar is a proven match-winner in T20Is, unlike Gill and that may have been taken into consideration while making the call. He pointed out Kohli's form during the COVID times, which was not great, yet he was not dropped because of his previous laurels. 

“There is a difference in the cases of Gill and Surya. Surya has been a proven match-winner in T20s. He has been on top of the ICC rankings and won games as well. We can't compare the two here. Gill had to prove himself in this format in the Indian team,” Kaif said on YouTube.

‘Take Kohli for example…’

“Take Kohli for example, he did not score for those two years during COVID but because he had a great record and a match-winner for 10 years or so, you backed him on his reputation and he got out of that phase and started scoring again. Surya is also in this category. Gill is nowhere close to Surya in this format. Saying you should remove both if they are not in form is not right here. Surya has earned this,” he added.

The Indian team will take on New Zealand in T20Is starting from January 21. That would be their last tournament before the marquee event.