After being left out of India's T20 World Cup squad, star batter Shubman Gill stands poised to claim one of Indian cricket's top honors. According to PTI, the India Test and ODI skipper has been nominated for the Cricketer of the Year award at the annual Naman awards, set to take place on Sunday, March 15.

Gill had a dream run in Test cricket and the 40-over format last year, but due to his struggles in T20Is, left many surprised about why he was getting this award.

Gill had performed consistently in the longest format, scoring 983 runs last year. Most of these runs were scored during the Test series against England, where he averaged more than 70 with 754 runs.

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He had performed equally brilliantly in the 50-over format, as he had scored 490 runs, of which 188 were scored during the ICC Champions Trophy last year. In all the formats, he had scored 1764 runs at a staggering average of 49 and had smashed seven hundreds and three fifties.

He also performed consistently during IPL 2025, scoring 650 runs for the Gujarat Titans at a staggering average of 50, thereby maintaining his sublime form.

WHAT LED TO GILL’S T20 WORLD CUP SNUB?

Even though he had performed brilliantly in the longest format and ODIs, he was struggling to secure his place in India's T20I team.

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He returned to India's T20I team for the Asia Cup 2025, where the Indian team management had to break the opening pair of Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma. Gill was also appointed vice-captain of the team, as the team management supported him to bat as an opener.

This decision forced Samson to bat as the middle-order even though he had smashed three consecutive tons as an opener. This also reduced Rinku Singh's chances of playing as the finisher.

The Indian team management continued this experiment for 15 T20Is, but Gill still couldn't secure his spot. He had scored 291 runs at an average of 24.25 and a staggering strike rate of 136.26.

He was seen struggling in the T20I series against South Africa, where he scored just 32 runs across three matches and was eventually dropped from the last T20I, held in Ahmedabad.

This decision did work wonders for the Men in Blue. Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan became India's two highest run-scorers during the recently concluded mega event and also helped India become the first team to successfully defend their T20 World Cup title.

Gill will now try to bounce back in T20Is in the upcoming edition of IPL. By leading the Gujarat Titans from the front, he will begin his IPL campaign against the Punjab Kings later this month, and this match might give him a chance to seal a spot in India's T20I team.