Shubman Gill ruled out of South Africa T20Is; replacement announced
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Indian captain Shubman Gill, who holds the role of vice-captain in the Indian T20I side, might be ruled out of the upcoming T20I series against South Africa after he struggled with a neck injury sustained during the first Test of the same tour at the Eden Gardens.
The Indian cricket team is slowly undergoing a transition, and though none of the players are assured of their position or even their future within the Indian side, Shubman Gill is surely in the plans for the future. He has been handed the Test and ODI captaincy and was considered to be in line to take over the T20I captaincy after Suryakumar Yadav.
However, a major roadblock for Gill and Gambhir's all-format captaincy dream has been Gill's poor T20I form and his sudden freak injury during the Test series, which has now threatened his return for the T20I series as well.
Shubman Gill's unavailability might challenge the Indian selectors
During India's first Test against South Africa at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, Shubman Gill played just three balls, hit a boundary and then the very next moment clutched his neck and left the field. He never returned during the game and was ruled out of the next game as well as the ODI series.
Midway through the ODI series, the Indian T20I selection committee is most likely to host a review meeting at Raipur during the commencement of the Second ODI between India and South Africa. A decision over Shubman Gill is also likely to be made.
Shubman was flown back to Mumbai, and then he was supposed to start the rehab with several concerns around his fitness. India might not want to risk him for the T20Is, considering that after this series, they will have some considerable time to relax and return for the New Zealand white-ball series next year.
Yashasvi Jaiswal might return to the T20I setup for India
Revsports reporter Rohit Juglan has claimed that if Shubman Gill is unavailable for the T20I series, then the Indian management might consider pairing opener Abhishek Sharma with out-of-favour Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Though Jaiswal has been a regular in the longest format of the game for India, he was dropped from the T20I side since the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup and the series following it. Abhishek Sharma has served as a dynamic opening option, and Sanju Samson's promotion led to Jaiswal being sidelined from the T20I side.
This might imply that Sanju Samson should either evolve into a middle-order batter or else he would be snubbed from the team, since he is no more in the opening plans for Gautam Gambhir.
If Shubman is unavailable for the T20 series (in COE) - Team Mgt is thinking of trying Abhishek & Jaiswal and not Sanju at the top
— Rohit Juglan (@rohitjuglan) December 2, 2025
There is a review meeting today with T20 selection meeting
Hardik Pandya is likely to return to international cricket after 2 months of rehabilitation
India might be without the services of Shubman Gill, but they are likely to have their most veteran all-rounder returning to the shortest format. Hardik Pandya is likely to be back with the Indian side from the South Africa T20Is.
Pandya's injury dates back to the Asia Cup, which kept him out of action for two months as he missed the tours against Australia and the South Africa ODIs as well. Pandya returned with the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and convinced all with his good outing against Punjab in Hyderabad.
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India National Cricket Team South Africa National Cricket Team India vs South Africa South Africa vs India Shubman Gill Yashasvi Jaiswal Abhishek Sharma Sanju SamsonAbout the Author
This author is a member of Cricketaddictor who writes news and analysis related to cricket.
