Why was Shubman Gill named India Vice captain over Axar Patel despite the year-long gap in T20Is? Here's what report says

The return of Shubman Gill, especially as the Vice captain of the Indian T20I team, has been the talking point since the BCCI on Tuesday announced a group of 15 members for the Asia Cup 2025. Gill, who last played a T20I for India in 2024, was rewarded with a place on the continental showpiece to his brilliant performance in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and in the Test series in England recently. With 600 plus runs for Gujarat Titans in IPL 2025, and 750-plus runs against England, who left Gill from the Indian group for Asia Cup 2025, they would have serious criticism of the BCCI. While the inclusion of Gill was welcomed by everyone, his return as a vice captain was not taken positive by several former cricketers, which raised a question that Axar Patel did wrong? By the way, Gill was the Deputy of Suryakumar Yadav when the former played his last T20i for India against Sri Lanka. Since Gill is working on the Indian Odi and Test side and Abhishek Sharma-Sanju Samson pair doing wonders in the shortest format at the top of the order, Axar was nominated as the vice captain on the side. According to an Indian Express report, Gill was not the first choice for India’s T20I vise captaincy for the Ajit Agarkar-led BCCI selection panel. But it was head coach Gautam Gambhir, who pushed hard for the inclusion of Gill as the vice captain despite a year-long gap in T20Is. Shubman Gill wasn’t the first choice for Vice captain? Based on the report, the Gill debate took most of the time in the meeting that Gambhir virtually joined. With the test captainship already in his suitcase and age on his side, Gambhir felt that management should take care of someone like Gill in the future and be the most eligible. Gill turns 26 next month. “Initially, Gill was not the first choice and some people felt that Axar Patel should continue the role of vice captaincy. But the general vote at the selection meeting was that it is better to invest in a player who is likely to serve Indian cricket,” the report states. “The panel could not find any other candidate who could hand them responsibility for the next five years. Since Gill is already leading in Test cricket, the selectors felt that it was a right time to prepare him to take over from Surya for some time in the future,” he added.