India T20 World Cup Squad: Star India batter Shubman Gill was left unaware of his omission from the T20 World Cup squad until moments before the selection meeting on Saturday, despite sitting out the Ahmedabad T20I against South Africa due to an injury, as per PTI.

The decision came as a surprise, with Gill's recent labours in T20Is, including scores of 4, 0, and 28 against South Africa.

According to PTI's BCCI source, Gill wasn't notified about the judgment by chief selector Ajit Agarkar, captain Suryakumar Yadav, or head coach Gautam Gambhir till Saturday morning.

As news of Gill's toe injury circulated, it became clear that his place in the T20 World Cup squad was in peril.

"If BCCI sources are to be believed, the team management had already decided to chuck the vice-captain out when in fact he wanted to play the Ahmedabad game as the injury wasn't that serious," PTI stated.

"If making him vice-captain for the Asia Cup riding on his England Test heroics was a wrong move as Sanju (Samson) had done nothing wrong, the move to drop him just five games before the start of the T20 World Cup indicates that it is more of a course correction done by Agarkar's panel," a former national selector told PTI.

"And the decision has more footprints of the head coach, who's actually not known for maintaining continuity," a former national selector added.

The decision to omit Gill was reportedly driven by the selectors' wish to have a wicketkeeper-batter at the top of the order, with Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan getting the place.

"We know what a quality player he is, but, perhaps short of a little bit of runs at the moment," Agarkar said at the press conference for India's squad announcement.

Chief selector Ajit Agarkar cited combination compulsions and a desire for a wicketkeeper-batter at the top order as reasons for Gill's exclusion.

"(He was) unfortunate to miss out on the last World Cup as well because, you know, we went to a different combination. But it's the combinations more than anything else. Two keepers at the top, that's the way we want to try. Someone has to miss out when you pick (squad of)15 and, unfortunately, it's Gill at this point," he added.

In 2025, Gill enjoyed a prolific run, scoring 291 runs in 15 innings at a blazing strike rate of over 137.