The former Indian batter, Manoj Tiwary, has remarked that Shubman Gill’s return to the vice-captaincy spot in T20Is ahead of the Asia Cup 2025 was because the head coach, Gautam Gambhir, favors working with him. Gill became the red-ball captain of the Blue Brigade during their trip to England, which they drew by a margin of 2-2.

The former Kolkata Knight Riders’ batter, Manoj Tiwary, hailed Gill’s batting success, citing his impeccable numbers in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Gujarat Titans. His return to the playing eleven has, however, pushed the wicket-keeper batter, Sanju Samson, into the middle order of the side.

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“Shubman Gill is equally good; he has done that and shown that in the IPL as well. He has been outstanding in the IPL. He has been a good captain in the IPL, where he has taken more responsibility, and the role has been given to him.” Tiwary claimed during a recent interaction on Inside Sport.

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Under Gambhir, India lifted the Champions Trophy 2025 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) before winning the first two games of the event against the UAE and Pakistan to qualify for the Super 4 stage of the competition. However, under his appointment, they lost the home Test series by 3-0 against New Zealand before facing a 3-1 series defeat against Australia during the BGT 2024-25 down under.

“But, you have to see that before Gill was in the squad, in Zimbabwe, we saw Abhishek Sharma and Samson, we then saw them producing starts against Bangladesh, which we never imagined as a cricket fan. Team India had never shown that kind of approach in a T20 game.” Tiwary shed light during the same interaction.

“So, when these two individuals have given you the performances and the starts, they both have been superb, they have scored hundreds, then why do you want to change that up here and bring Shubman Gill? The reasons are well known; it's an open secret that he wants a captain who wants to listen to him.” The former Bengal captain concluded.