The Gautam Gambhir–Ajit Agarkar combine set out to do away with star culture in Indian cricket. The events of the last year point to the fact that they have stayed true to their mission. First, we witnessed a series of high-profile retirements, and not all were pleasant. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravi Ashwin—some of the greatest players to have played the game for India—called it a day in 2024–25. We have also seen the selectors make domestic cricket mandatory for all players. Rohit and Kohli, too, will be playing domestic cricket soon enough, and this is the result of changes effected over the last year.
The dropping of Shubman Gill from the T20 World Cup squad reinforces this mindset. Gill was perhaps the only batter in the team who was an all-format certainty. He was also being at as an all-format captain and was elevated to T20 vice-captaincy, with a clear plan for him to take over once Suryakumar Yadav was done with his stint. The selectors brought Gill back for the Asia Cup amid much discussion and made him vice-captain, replacing Axar Patel.
In every sense, Gill was the chosen one. But now that he hasn’t performed over the last three months and hasn’t scored with the consistency expected of him, the selectors and the management did not hesitate to leave him out of the most important tournament of all. Clearly, Gambhir and Agarkar are walking the talk when it comes to doing away with star culture in Indian cricket.
What this decision also points to is a sense of introspection and acceptance. The management and selectors backed Gill from the time of the Asia Cup and stayed steadfast until the recently concluded South Africa series. Gill played every Asia Cup game and was a regular feature in the T20I series in Australia. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t able to make the most of the opportunities presented to him. Realising that the Gill experiment hadn’t yielded dividends, the selection committee decided to move away from him with six weeks to go before the World Cup.
Gambhir and Agarkar are clearly walking the talk on star culture. In this case, they haven’t just left out the vice-captain of the team; they have omitted India’s red-ball skipper, who is also ODI captain. That’s where brands are created and a certain culture evolves. Leaving Gill out shows steel and a strong emphasis on performance, which is refreshing.
I have long maintained that in sport, performance is all that matters. Even in the case of Rohit and Kohli, it was performance that silenced everyone in Australia and in the recently concluded ODI series. Once Kohli scored back-to-back hundreds and earned the Player of the Series award, there was no way to question him. The same applies to Rohit. But if you don’t perform despite multiple opportunities coming your way, you will inevitably be asked to sit out. It is no longer about individual stars. Rather, it is about a collective that can help India retain the T20 World Cup.
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