Shubman Gill, India's vice-captain in ODIs and T20Is, has said he aims to improve his performance in the shortest format, as the team begins to build towards defending their T20 World Cup title in 2026.
"My performance in T20Is before the World Cup this year wasn't how I had expected it to be," Gill said ahead of the series opener against Sri Lanka in Pallekele. "Hopefully, going forward, in the upcoming cycle - I think we play 30-40 T20Is [before the next T20 World Cup] - I can improve my performance when it comes to batting, and also [we can improve] as a team."
Gill was a reserve player and not part of the squad that just won the T20 World Cup 2024 in the USA and West Indies, where India opened with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. With both senior batters now retired from T20Is, Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was the back-up opener at the World Cup, are now first choice for India at the top of the order
"We really enjoy batting with each other. Especially the kind of shots we play, we kind of complement each other," Gill said of his partnership with Jaiswal. "Being a right-left combination, we have had good partnerships in whatever T20Is we have played before; two partnerships have been 150-plus [too]. So we have a great understanding and communication between us, and I have fun batting with him."
Gill and Jaiswal strung a couple of big partnerships in the T20Is in Zimbabwe after the T20 World Cup 2024 ended. Gill, who was India's stand-in captain that series, top-scored with 170 runs at a strike rate of 125.92 in five innings. He was then appointed vice-captain for the limited-overs series in Sri Lanka, selected ahead of other opening contenders like Ruturaj Gaikwad and Abhishek Sharma, who had scored a hundred in Zimbabwe.
The series in Sri Lanka is also Gautam Gambhir's first assignment as India coach after he succeeded Rahul Dravid, whose coaching tenure ended after the T20 World Cup triumph.
"We have had just two net sessions together, and this is the first time I am working with him," Gill said about Gambhir the coach. "But whatever he has told me during these two sessions, his intent and communication have been very clear - he knows what he wants from which player, and what he thinks will work for each player."
India play three T20Is against Sri Lanka in Pallekele on July 27, 28 and 30, followed by three ODIs in Colombo on August 2, 4 and 7.