Shubman Gill has been appointed India’s vice-captain for the upcoming Asia Cup as the 15-member squad was announced on Tuesday (August 19). But who was India’s vice-captain before Gill as he is making a comeback to the format after more than a year.
Shubman Gill returned to India’s T20I team for the Asia Cup as the BCCI announced the 15-member squad for the continental event. He was also appointed the vice-captain of the team after putting up an impressive performance as the captain of the Test team on the England tour. Gill replaced Axar Patel in the vice-captaincy role as the latter was appointed as Suryakumar Yadav’s deputy for the T20I series against England earlier this year.
Notably, the series was the last time India played in the format and the all-rounder has been removed from the leadership role without any explanation. Former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif also pointed out the same in his post on X and felt that Axar deserved an explanation from the selectors for axing him as vice-captain.
“I hope Axar Patel was informed about his removal from vice-captaincy in advance and he didn’t come to know about it from the press conference. Axar did no wrong so he deserves an explanation,” Kaif wrote in his post on X.
How did Axar Patel perform in England T20Is?
Axar Patel has been a crucial player for India as an all-rounder in the shortest format of the game. He performed well in the T20I series against England too, picking up six wickets in five matches at an average of 16.5 and an economy of just over 7. His batting wasn’t required much but the left-hander has improved in that regard a lot with the team management also using him as a floater in the line-up during the T20 World Cup last year.
In the final against South Africa, Axar was promoted to bat at five with India struggling at 34/3 and the southpaw smashed 47 runs off 31 balls with one four and four sixes and stitched a vital 72-run stand with Virat Kohli in just 54 balls.
No question asked regarding Axar Patel’s vice-captaincy axe in press conference
Interestingly, no question was asked regarding the axing of Axar Patel as vice-captain, even as the focus remained on Shubman Gill, who replaced him in the role.ย
As for the squad, Shreyas Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal were big misses and many felt they deserved to be in the squad for the Asia Cup.
{img-17254}
Also Read