Shubman Gill has been announced as India's new ODI captain, replacing Rohit Sharma ahead of the three-match series against Australia. This was quite a shocking decision as it was expected that Rohit would be leading the team in the upcoming series especially after he had led the side to the Champions Trophy title earlier this year. However, the baton has well and truly been passed to Gill, who had also succeeded Rohit as India's Test captain earlier this year.
Questions on Rohit and Virat's ODI future
When asked about the reason why Rohit was replaced as India's ODI captain, selection committee chief Ajit Agarkar stated that it is not practical to have a different captain for all the three formats. On the other hand, the former India cricketer didn't comment on Rohit and Virat's future in one-day cricket.
"That's the format they (Virat and Rohit) are at the moment playing, we picked them as far as the 2027 World Cup is concerned. I don't think we need to talk about it today. Obviously, with the captaincy change, that's generally the thought," Agarkar told reporters.
"A couple of things, really. Firstly, it's practically impossible to have three different captains for three formats, just in terms of planning. Obviously, at some stage, you have to start looking at where the next World Cup will be; it's also a format that is played the least now. So you don't get that many games to actually give the next guy, or if there is going to be another guy, that much time to prepare himself or plan," he added.
It was quite a tough decision to take
Agarkar further revealed that replacing Rohit with Gill was quite a tough decision to take as not only did the former lead the team for a long time, but was also very successful as the side's captain. However, he further added that tough calls need to be taken so that the team moves forward.
“Even if he had not won the Champions Trophy, it would have been a difficult decision because of how good he's been for India. But you've got to sometimes look at what's coming forward. Where you stand as a team and eventually look at what's in the best interest of the team. Whether it's now or maybe six months later. Those are the calls that I suppose you have to make. Like I said, it's tough with one-day cricket at this point,” Agarkar stated.
“Because if you're going to make that call, you want to try and make it reasonably early and give the other guy enough chance to try and get that confidence of leading another format. That was the idea, but it's always tough. Someone who's been very successful, you have to make that decision,” he further added.
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.