With the 2027 World Cup in mind, the Indian selectors made a big step on Saturday by removing Rohit Sharma from his position as ODI captain and, as was to be expected, giving the reins to young Shubman Gill.
Additionally, the move highlights Gill’s shift to an all-format leader.
However, the selection panel decided not to completely forgo the experience, and Rohit is included in the 15-man squad for the forthcoming Australia Tour alongside fellow legend Virat Kohli.
For the three-game series, Shreyas Lyer has been selected vice-captain.
A five-match T20 series will follow the ODIs, which are slated to take place in Sydney, Adelaide, and Melbourne from October 19 to 25.
Promising left-hander Yashasvi Jaiswal has been called up to the 50-over setup following a run of reliable performances in T20 internationals, while pace leader Jasprit Bumrah has been rested for the ODI portion of the tour in order to manage his workload.
Ajit Agarkar, the chairman of selection, said that Rohit had been informed of the captaincy change, but he remained evasive when asked if he and Kohli will both be playing in the 2027 ODI World Cup.
“Yes. I mean that is the format they are playing at the moment and we (have) picked them. As far as the 2027 (ODI) 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,” said Agarkar.
The former pacer gave a succinct response when asked how the now-former captain had made the choice: “That is something between the selection committee and Rohit.”
Agarkar also stated that it is hard to have three different captains since it interferes with the squad’s overall planning, especially since there are so few ODIs played these days.
“Firstly, it’s practically impossible to have three different captains for three formats, just in terms of planning,” Agarkar said.
This committee’s plan heavily relies on the 2027 World Cup, thus Gill needs time to get used to his new role.
“Obviously, at some stage, you have got to start looking at where the next World Cup is, it’s also a format which 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.”
ODI squad for Australia tour: Shubman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas lyer (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
T201 squad: Suryakumar Yadav (Captain), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar
