Shubman Gill returns to drawing board after T20 WC snub, to play for Punjab in Vijay Hazare Trophy

Shubman Gill has returned to the drawing board following his shock T20 World Cup snub late last week. Picked as the new vice-captain for the recently concluded South Africa T20Is, Gill played the first three matches before getting sidelined for the remainder. While he remained in contention for a spot in the 15-man T20 WC squad, the selectors overlooked him at the last minute, picking Ishan Kishan in his place. Gill, however, has returned to the drawing board after being picked in the 18-man Punjab squad for the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Alongside Gill, T20I superstars and World Cup-bound players, opener Abhishek Sharma and seamer Arshdeep Singh, have also been named in the team, which starts its campaign against Maharashtra on December 24. Besides the three Indian internationals, Punjab has also picked Prabhsimran Singh, Naman Dhir, Anmolpreet Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Sanvir Singh and Harpreet Brar, with Gurnoor Brar and Krish Bhagat leading the pace attack.

While there remains no clarity on their availability for the season, with Team India scheduled to play New Zealand for three One-Dayers and five T20Is starting January 11, Gill, who is out of the T20I squad for the dress-rehearsal NZ series, will lead the One-Day side, which doesn’t include Arshdeep and Abhishek.

Meanwhile, Punjab, which will play seven of its league matches in Jaipur this season, is placed alongside Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Goa and Mumbai in the group stage, which concludes on January 8.

Getting knocked out in last season’s quarters, Punjab has not named a captain in their official statement.

Punjab's Vijay Hazare Trophy squad -

Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Arshdeep Singh, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Harnoor Pannu, Anmolpreet Singh, Uday Saharan, Naman Dhir, Salil Arora (wk), Sanvir Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Jashanpreet Singh, Gurnoor Brar, Harpreet Brar, Raghu Sharma, Krish Bhagat, Gourav Choudhary and Sukhdeep Bajwa