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Former West Indies cricketer Ian Bishop feels Shubman Gill is "nowhere near the finished article" and will be requiring the help of senior players like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to grow as the side's captain. This comes after Gill was recently appointed as the Men in Blue's new ODI captain for the upcoming three-match series against Australia that will commence from October 19.
“He’ll be fine. Those two guys will help him along the way. He will grow in the job," Bishop said, referring to Rohit and Virat in an interview with PTI.
“He’s nowhere near the finished article. People have to give him that chance to grow as a captain, and as a batsman, he will grow as well. He has the temperament and the skill to lead, but the growth in captaincy and tactics is something that will take a couple of seasons to develop. I’m sure he’ll get help from the two veterans," he added.
Gill's impressive start to Test captaincy tenure
Gill was first appointed as India's captain in Test cricket and left the team management immensely impressed with his performance in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy against England. The Indian team recorded a 2-2 series draw against the Three Lions and then went on to triumph in the West Indies Tests by 2-0. It is safe to say that Gill has had a brilliant start to his captaincy tenure.
On the other, hand, Bishop was also asked about the possibility of Rohit and Virat featuring in the 2027 ODI World Cup, and he said that it would all depend on the duo's fitness and determination.
“That’s their decision. I can’t answer that for Rohit or for Virat or for the BCCI. It depends on their determination and skill. They’ve been fine so far," Bishop stated.
Rohit and Virat set for ODI comeback
Meanwhile, both Rohit and Virat are set to make their returns to international cricket in the upcoming ODI assignment against Australia. The two last played for India in the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy final against New Zealand and will be eager to make a strong comeback.
India's squad for Australia ODIs: Shubman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (VC), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal.
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