BCCI: Test skipper Shubman Gill has replaced Rohit Sharma as India’s ODI captain, the country’s cricket board said Saturday, starting with the series in Australia.
The 38-year-old batsman Rohit and fellow stalwart Virat Kohli, 36, were both named in the squad for the three-match series beginning on October 19.
Top-order batsman Gill, 26, is now Test and one-day skipper, and vice-captain to Suryakumar Yadav with India’s T20 side.
Chief selector Ajit Agarkar said Gill was chosen to lead the 50-over team with the 2027 World Cup in mind.
“Firstly, it’s practically impossible to have three different captains for three formats,” Agarkar said in Ahmedabad, where Gill led the hosts to a crushing win over the West Indies in the first Test.
“Obviously, at some stage, you’ve 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 that much time to prepare himself or plan.”
Agarkar said he communicated the captaincy switch to Rohit, but refused to give any more details.
Agarkar is eager to see how Rohit and Kohli handle playing just one format of the international game.
They have both retired from T20Is and Tests.
“Those are two really experienced guys who’ve been around for a long time, so they would perhaps find it a little bit alien just to play one format which is played the least,” said Agarkar.
“Whether not playing a lot of cricket makes a difference, one should ask them and we’ll find out when they play, but it doesn’t happen too many times.”
Gill took over the Test captaincy from Rohit starting with the series in England in the summer, earning praise for both his leadership and batting.
He led from the front, scoring 754 runs in five Tests to help India draw the keenly contested series 2-2.
Gill also leads Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League.
Rohit, one of India’s most successful limited-overs captains, led the side to a record third Champions Trophy title in Dubai earlier this year.
Gill’s vice-captain for the Australia series will be Shreyas Iyer.
Suryakumar will lead the T20 team in Australia.
India will play five T20 matches after the ODIs in Australia, seen as a preparation for the T20 World Cup in February-March in India and Sri Lanka.
India currently top both the ODI and T20 team rankings of the International Cricket Council.
ODI squad: Shubman Gill (capt), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (vice-capt), 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.
T20 squad: Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill (vice-capt), 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.
