By Sampurna Majumder
Former India batsman Mohammed Kaif was outspoken in his criticism of the Ajit Agarkar-led national selection committee for squandering their preparations for the 2026 T20 World Cup and taking the snap decision to swap Shubman Gill with Axar Patel as the team’s vice captain.
Gill was surprisingly eliminated from the 15-player T20 World Cup last Saturday. The declaration was made at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai. Gill was supposedly picked up for the competition. Gill had played in every Twenty20 International since the Asia Cup in September, although his top score of 47 was not at all impressive. Gill scored 4,0 and a run-a-ball of 28 in the recent five-match series against South Africa before sustaining a tor injury that kept him out of the final two games. For the first time since January 2025, wicketkeeper Sanju Samson joined Abhishek Sharma in the opening position while he was absent, and he quickly made an impression with a 37.
A day later, Samson, who broke the world record with three hundreds last year, was declared as the team’s first-choice keeper and opener. Over the past three months, the selectors have been testing with a whole different setup, including Gill as vice-captain, and Kaif had slammed them for their hesitant planning and wasting crucial preparatory matches.
“They knew there were better players, I am talking about the T20 format. Just this one. There were better players than Gill. So it was the mistake of the selectors. They have made a mistake and Indian cricket has gone behind. For two to three months, you could have invested in Jaiswal, Samson and Jitesh,” Kaif stated on his YouTube channel.
According to Kaif, the spin-bowling all-rounder lost crucial months to improve his leadership abilities under captain Suryakumar Yadav when Axar returned as vice-captain for the first time since January.
“It is a loss for Axar Patel who returns as vice-captain and for the Indian team as well” Kaif remarked. He also said that the team is strong without a doubt but Axar would have participated in this team discussion and more opportunity to improve his leadership skills if he had remained vice-captain. If Axar had served as vice-captain for those two-three months, he would have acquired high insight into his team and its members in the event that Surya sustained an injury. According to Kaif, Axar would have been better prepared if he had been captain and the opportunity had been taken away from him.
Kaif claimed that Agarkar & Co.’s lack of preparation was the cause of the late Gill snub, a mistake he thought was uncommon in Indian Cricket.
“You dropped Gill after carrying him all the way to the end. It seems like the appropriate decision. It was correct even if it arrived late. Planning is lacking. Planning has been a waste of time. You supported a player who isn’t yet ready. He shouldn’t have played because there were better players. As selectors, you made the error. You were now forced to get rid of him. Rarely had this occurred. He didn’t score in 17-18 innings, thus there was no other choice. How many more chances would you offer him? There was growing pressure. I believe it has been a waste of time for Indian cricket and those players who should have had the chance even if no one wanted to let him go.”