Shubman Gill’s T20 inside story: 1000 balls with a middler bat and open the usual ‘V’

New Delhi: Less than two months before the 2026 T20 World Cup, Shubman Gill was dropped from the Indian team. Nominated as Asia Cup vice-captain, the right-handed batsman failed to produce results, prompting the think tank to make a tough call.

Asked to lead India across formats, Gill found himself at a critical crossroads last December. The batsman who reinvented himself during a dream summer in England, replaced Rohit Sharma as India’s ODI captain, and who was filling in for Suryakumar Yadav’s T20I captaincy, has been left out of the World Cup squad.

Gill took the nod on the chin, wrapped up his commercial commitments and assembled his team in Mohali. In the cold of winter, alongside the trusted bowlers and net bowlers, he worked relentlessly on his white ball game. Known to rely heavily on volume in training, Gill spent hours analyzing videos of his T20 matches and realized that he needed to unlock the range and power in the regular V – from deep cover to mid-wicket.

Determined to change things, Gill accepted the challenge. The bat in the center became his best friend, and he spent hours with it to find the sweet spot without losing his posture. Earlier, he looked eager to hit the ball a lot. Even in the last IPL season – when he scored 650 runs in 15 innings at a strike rate of 155.88 – he lacked the control he wanted from a regular V. At times, the bat face closed slightly while hitting over long-off and long on, costing him height and distance.

Problem identified, challenge accepted.