“Selections have always been debatable” - Ravi Ashwin opens up on Shubman Gill becoming new T20I vice-captain

Former Indian spinner and analyst Ravi Ashwin has opened up on the selection committee, led by Ajit Agarkar, naming Shubman Gill as the new vice-captain of the Indian T20I team for the forthcoming Asia Cup 2025, scheduled to start on Tuesday, September 9, in the United Arab Emirates.

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Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin has stated that Gill has made a lot of runs for his franchise Gujarat Titans, and he deserves to be a part of the T20I squad. However, he added that selections have always been debatable for the past 20 to 30 years.

“Genuinely, genuinely, the selection of Shubman Gill is okay. He has been announced as the vice-captain as well. All that aside, as a player, he has also made a lot of runs. He has scored a lot of runs for the Gujarat Titans. He has the credentials to be selected in the team. Selections have always been debatable, if you look at the last 20 years, 30 years,” Ashwin told on his YouTube channel.

Furthermore, Ashwin also talked about the exclusions of Shreyas Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who equally had an excellent IPL 2025 season, but couldn’t get their name in the final squad for the showpiece event. Ashwin heaped praise on Iyer for his excellent captaincy and batting skills displayed in the recently concluded IPL season.

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"When selections happen, everyone discusses, ’this could have happened, that could have happened.’ This has always been the case. But this thing, the credential that a player built, the stability that you had with the player. When you have Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, everybody went to a World Cup and triumphed there, and when you have Jaiswal as your third opener, to remove a player from a World Cup-winning squad, you have brought Shubman Gill into the team. I am happy for Shubman, but I am very, very, very sad for Shreyas and Yashasvi Jaiswal. It is just not fair to both those kids," he added.

"I know you have maps forward, but what does Shreyas Iyer lack? He’s won an IPL with KKR. KKR missed an opportunity by releasing him into the auction. He took a team like Punjab Kings, which last qualified in 2014, a guy with such strong leadership and batting skills, batting at number three. He is not batting like the Shreyas Iyer of 2017 or 2018,” he observed.

Team India squad for Asia Cup 2025: Surya Kumar Yadav (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (wk), Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh.

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Reserve players: Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal.

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