Suryakumar Yadav, Shubman Gill underneath scrutiny as India look to go up 2-1 with win in IND vs AUS 4th T20I

All the focus will be on India cricket team captain Suryakumar Yadav and vice-captain Shubman Gill as the visitors lock horns with Australia in IND vs AUS 4th T20I in Gold Coast on Thursday. After going down 1-0 in the series post the Canberra game being washed out and Australia winning the 2nd T20I, the Men in Blue bounced back with a 5-wicket win in the 3rd T20I in Hobart. With the series on the line, it is not only imperative for SKY and Gill to step up but it also remains to be seen how much India will tinker with their playing XI and what their strategy will be for the game.

Time running out for Gill, SKY

India’s T20I captain Suryakumar has been poor in the only format of the game that he is currently active in since the starting of the year. SKY started off 2025 by managing to score just 28 runs against England at the start of the year, including two ducks in the five-match series. While he did have a good season in IPL 2025, his miserable form in T20Is continued as he managed to score just 72 runs in Asia Cup 2025. It spilt over to the series against Australia as well. After managing to score an unbeaten 39 run knock in Canberra in the IND vs AUS 1st T20I which was eventually washed out, the Indian captain was dismissed for just one run in the 2nd T20I in Melbourne. In the 3rd T20I, he managed to survive just for 11 deliveries.

Vice-captain Gill has been sub-par in this series as well, registering scores of 37, 5 and 15 in the three T20Is so far. With the Punjab batter being considered as an all-format captain in the future, time is running out for Gill to justify his position in India’s T20I XI.

No Kuldeep Yadav

India will be without the services of ace spinner Kuldeep Yadav as he has been released from the squad. He will be taking part in the INDA vs SAA 2nd unofficial Test in order to prepare for the upcoming two-match Test series against South Africa. No replacement has been named.

While he was left out of the playing XI in the 3rd T20I, it remains to be seen if India persist with the same playing XI. Shivam Dube was quite expensive in the previous game while SKY made the baffling decision to not use Washington Sundar with the ball. The all-rounder, nevertheless, proved his worth by playing a match-winning knock to get India across the line and level the series 1-1.

Also, it is pertinent to point out that Arshdeep Singh created an instant impact on his return, proving Gambhir & SKY wrong for leaving him out of the first two games. It would only make sense for the southpaw to be retained in the XI, unless and until the coach and captain would want to bring back Harshit Rana into the team after benching him in the previous game.

Will Sanju Samson re-enter XI?

Samson, who lost his position as opener to Gill at the start of Asia Cup, was left out of the XI for Jitesh Sharma in the 3rd T20I. Sharma impressed on his return to the XI for the first time since January 2024, playing a handy 22-run knock. It remains to be seen if India will want to persist with Jitesh and give him yet another chance as they want to experiment as much as possible before the T20 World Cup 2026.

IND vs AUS 4th T20I squads

Australia: Mitchell Marsh(c), Matthew Short, Josh Inglis(w), Tim David, Mitchell Owen, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Xavier Bartlett, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Josh Philippe, Tanveer Sangha, Mahli Beardman

India: Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Jitesh Sharma(w), Shivam Dube, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Sanju Samson, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana