Former India National Cricket Team opening batsman Aakash Chopra has made a gigantic assertion regarding Shubman Gill, the captain of Test and one-day international teams, and the vice-captain of T20, who was a failure in the Asia Cup 2025 final against the Pakistan National Cricket Team.
Chopra was straightforward that Shubman Gill would be the one to show up in the big matches, and his non-performance in the India vs. Pakistan Asia Cup 2025 final is a serious concern.
Aakash Chopra: Gill was being prepared for a 150-run match
He is one of the very few all-format players currently in the Indian team, and his workload has been tremendous since the England tour earlier this year.
In the last couple of years, Gill’s primary focus has been on Test and ODI cricket, but the selection committee summoned him back to the T20I team for the Asia Cup 2025 and even gave him the vice-captaincy.
Still, he has not been able to earn his spot in the T20I squad and has been plagued by failures, with the worst coming in the Asia Cup 2025 final against their biggest rivals Pakistan.
India was anticipating that Gill would be the one to finally score when chasing 147 runs, but he only managed a mere 12 runs in 10 balls, hitting one four, before he was caught and bowled by Faheem Ashraf.
India managed to win the match due to Tilak Varma, but Aakash Chopra insisted that Shubman Gill’s failure in a critical low-scoring match is a very big issue.
“Shubman Gill was being groomed for a 150-run match like the 2025 Asia Cup final which was not scoring runs in that match is a problem to me. I don’t care what happens around it because he has been appointed only for that one job. All the others are stroke makers; they don’t have another gear, but you have,” Aakash Chopra told on Shubhankar Mishra’s YouTube channel.
Looking into the international tournaments, for example, the 2022 T20 World Cup, the 2024 T20 World Cup, and the 2025 Asia Cup, there were no scores exceeding 200 in these events. The scores totaling 250-300 are a common topic in bilateral series but the fear of playing does not let any team win that high in an ICC event,” he added.
I believe there is an obscurity in the matter of Sarfaraz – Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra, during the same conversation, spoke about the Sarfaraz Khan scenario and went on to say that he has not even been given a chance to perform poorly because the selectors believe he will not be able to do well in foreign conditions.
“I think there is a clarity issue in the case of Sarfaraz. I think it is a perception and understanding issue. I am trying to think, they might have a perception that he may not do as well in swinging conditions and not be able to handle fast bowling.
“Maybe he is not our guy in SENA countries. So he did not get the chance. But even to create that perception, I have to let him fail. He is not even allowed to fail. And now there is also no place in the team,” he said on Shubhankar Mishra’s YouTube channel.
Aakash Chopra says Jaiswal is a top player in the Indian team
Whenever Shubman Gill stumbles in T20I cricket, the audience pushes the BCCI to bring back Yashasvi Jaiswal to the team. The left-handed batsman has notably surpassed Gill in terms of numbers in the shorter format but has not been included in the squad.
Meanwhile, Aakash Chopra expressed his belief that Yashasvi Jaiswal will eventually be a part of India’s T20 World Cup 2026 squad.
“Jaiswal is also a top player in the Indian team. He will be part of both the ODI and T20I teams in the near future too.”
” For a short time, the sunlight can be shielded by some clouds but it cannot be completely concealed. I will concede that at this moment it is really Jaiswal’s case to be treated unfairly. (not being in the white-ball teams) In my opinion, he will be part of the T20 World Cup squad. “I do not think that the current playing team is the final team,” he remarked.
