Asia Cup 2025: Mohammad Kaif Hopes Axar Patel Was Informed About His Removal as Vice-Captain.

Former India cricketer and now an expert Mohammad Kaif hopes that all-rounder Axar Patel was informed and explained about his removal from the T20I team’s vice-captaincy before chief selector Ajit Agarkar announced Shubman Gill in the role for Asia Cup 2025. Kaif mentioned that Axar did no wrong and deserved to know the reasoning behind the call.

Notably, Axar was India’s vice-captain the last time they played a T20I series, against England at home in February. Gill wasn’t part of that team, just like most of the Test squad that had finished a Test series against Australia weeks ago. After that, he rose to the second highest run-scorer in IPL 2025.

However, with Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma having established themselves at the top of the order, Gill getting a chance in a multi-nation tournament came as a surprise to many experts and fans alike.

Mohammad Kaif’s views on Axar Patel being removed as vice-captain. 

Taking to social media platform X, Mohammad Kaif posted: “I hope Axar Patel was informed about his removal from vice-captaincy in advance and he didn’t come to know about it from the press conference. Axar did no wrong so he deserves an explanation.” 

Ajit Agarkar clarified on his part on the vice-captaincy choice. 

Chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar from his point of view suggested that Axar was only a stop-gap choice as vice-captain. Agarkar said: “He was the vice-captain when we played in Sri Lanka. But after that. he was busy with Test cricket. We obviously see some leadership qualities in him, and his form in England was what we were hoping for. He exceeded all our expectations, which is a great sign when there’s so much pressure as captain.” 

Shubman Gill was not a straight forward choice for Ajit Agarkar and company to pick in the squad. According to various news reports and credible sources, it was head coach Gautam Gambhir who pushed for Gill’s case in the team as he personally wanted to groom a future leader under Suryakumar Yadav and he felt Shubman was the right person to be groomed. After all discussions, the final decision was taken to pick Shubman Gill in the team as vice-captain.

This vice-captaincy row and Shubman Gill coming into the team has created unnecessary tension and a bit of confusion in the Indian team. With Gill appointed as vice-captain, it means he will have to play all the matches and will be in playing XI. It means the settled combination of Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson will be broken. The duo were doing so well for the past year or so and now that will be disrupted.

Then Sanju keeps wickets, but Abhishek is the number one T20 batter in the world currently. It is most likely Samson will give way for Gill at the top. That will mean Jitesh Sharma who bats in the middle order will have to slot in and so a middle order slot will go away. To make a best XI will turn out to be even more challenging for the Indians now. We were busy talking about Shreyas Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal not there, but those who are there will create headaches for team management in bringing out a XI.

All set and done, the Indian team still looks solid and will be a force to reckon with in Asia Cup 2025. It is their title to lose if we look at their team on paper. It’s now about whether India can go out there and perform from the get-go because they will be playing a T20I since January 2025. That is a long gap, and these are professionals who will find a way to do the job one feels. But India won’t be able to take any side likely for all we know as anything can happen in T20Is.

So, we shall see how things unfold when the Asia Cup starts on 9th September 2025 with India playing their first match on the 10th of September.

Also Read: Asia Cup 2025: Javed Miandad Slams Selectors For Excluding Babar Azam From Squad.