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Dinesh Karthik reacts to Shubman Gill and Jitesh Sharma being dropped from India’s T20 World Cup team, questioning team management’s clarity.
Shubman Gill will miss the T20 World Cup (PTI Photo)
Former Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik has said that he didn’t expect the team management to drop Shubman Gill from the T20 World Cup squad, adding that having backed him for therefore long, only to drop him for the massive tournament, shows a scarcity of clarity inside the team.
Gill, India’s T20I vice-captain, missed out on a spot within the World Cup team, together with Jitesh Sharma, though each featured within the recent series against South Africa.
Speaking on Instagram, Karthik said that he was surprised by the omissions of Gill and Jitesh. He called the choice shocking, noting that Gill had the backing of the selectors only to be dropped just before a significant tournament.
“India’s World Cup T20 squad is announced and guess what? Shubman Gill, the present vice-captain of the T20 team and incumbent opener, has been dropped not only from the eleven, but from the squad,” Karthik said.
“And so they wanted to usher in an additional opener, in order that they brought in Ishan Kishan and dropped Jitesh Sharma as well and as a substitute of Jitesh Sharma, it’s going to be Rinku Singh,” Karthik said.
“That is large news, dropping Shubman Gill and Jitesh Sharma. I didn’t see that coming. Just tells you there’s somewhat little bit of clarity lacking. They backed Shubman Gill for therefore long and are available the day after they picked the squad, they’ve let him go,” Karthik added.
The previous cricketer acknowledged that India have assembled a robust team for the tournament, with cricketers like Abhishek Sharma, ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and Varun Chakravarthy forming a solid playing XI.
Nonetheless, Karthik identified two potential areas of concern: the absence of ace batter Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in a World Cup setting and the present type of Suryakumar Yadav.
December 20, 2025, 17:51 IST
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