The generational shift in Indian cricket has been completed with the appointment of Shubman Gill as the ODI captain of the team which travels to Australia this winter. The decision was not entirely unexpected but the speed with which it was implemented has caused murmurs in certain quarters.
By opting for 26-year-old Gill and bypassing Rohit Sharma who turns 38 in November, the national selectors have shown eagerness to bite the bullet sooner than later in order to take Indian cricket forward. Gill has already replaced Sharma as the captain in the longest format of the game and now he leads the team in the white ball contest. Surya Kumar Yadav was recently appointed the skipper for the T20I.
In choosing Gill for the mantle, the selectors no doubt looked at the Australian tour but their eyes were fixed beyond that--on the 2027 World Cup competition.
Chairman of the selection committee Ajit Agarkar reportedly felt a tour Down Under is the right time and place to effect the change of leadership and for Gill to grow for the big event two years down the line.
What went in favour of Gill for the ODI team captaincy was India’s performance in the five-test series in England recently when the visiting side came back from a two-Test deficit to level the scoreboard. Gill was India’s top scorer and came close to equaling Don Bradman’s record of aggregating the highest total in a series.
More importantly, the BCCI leaders and some selectors gauzed the mood among other Indian players in the dressing room during the tour of England. that convinced the selectors that Gill is the right choice for the mantle.
The message sent by the selectors to both Rohit and Virat Kohli, 37, is clear: they can look at their future in the ODI only as foot soldiers and not as leaders. Not even Rohit had perhaps hopes to carry on till the next World Cup even as a foot soldier as he would be 40 by then.
