Former India cricketer feels that taking the ODI captaincy from Rohit Sharma and handing it to Shubman Gill can go on to cost the Men in Blue big time in the upcoming three-match series against Australia. Kaif stated that even though this was an expected move on BCCI's part, he thought that it wouldn't happen until the 2027 ODI World Cup.
Kaif further stated that getting the leadership duties for two formats in a hurry can pressurise Gill a lot and can lead to him not being able to deliver with the bat.
"This was on expected lines, but I felt this would happen after the 2027 World Cup. The guy has quality, and he's also worked on his fitness. He had a realistic chance of playing the 2027 World Cup. However, the load falls on Gill. He's getting all of it in a hurry. It could also lead to a loss. When you get so much in such a short time, it could backfire," Kaif said on his Youtube channel.
Kaif also believes that Gill can get 'overburdened' as he is being handed the captaincy in different formats all of a sudden. He even claimed that the 26-year-old had never demanded captaincy, but was still chosen as the successor to Rohit in ODIs.
"My point is that don't overburden him. He captains in Tests, bats at No. 4. He was made the vice-captain in the Asia Cup – will take over when Suryakumar Yadav steps aside. Now you've made him the ODI captain. I feel everything is being done in a hurry. A player never asks for captaincy. Everyone knows that he didn't want it. You can't demand it, but everyone seems to like him a lot and considers him a captain for the future. The selectors, including Ajit Agarkar, have pressurised him," Kaif stated.
How many matches will India play on Australia tour?
Meanwhile, Team India is set to embark on a tour to Australia soon where they will be playing three ODIs and five T20Is. The one-day assignment will begin from October 19 while the T20I series will commence from October 29. This will be quite an important series especially for both Rohit and Virat Kohli, who are set to make their much-awaited returns to international cricket.
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.