Shubman Gill takes over as India’s ODI captain from Rohit Sharma

Shubman Gill takes over as India’s ODI captain from Rohit Sharma

India Tour Australia: The BCCI named Shubman Gill as captain for the upcoming ODI series against Australia starting from October 19. Both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are part of the Indian squad for the ODIs against Australia.

Shubman Gill has been named India’s new ODI captain, replacing Rohit Sharma. He will lead the team in the upcoming three-match series in Australia starting October 19. Rohit remains in the squad as a batter and will be joined by Virat Kohli, marking their return to international cricket for the first time since the Champions Trophy in March 2025.

The decision to hand Gill the captaincy was made by the selection panel led by Ajit Agarkar, in coordination with head coach Gautam Gambhir and BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia. The idea is to give Gill enough time to settle into the role ahead of the 2027 ODI World Cup, which will be held in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. Agarkar explained that since ODIs are played less frequently now, it’s important to start preparing early. He also pointed out that managing three different captains across formats is tough for both selectors and coaches.

Gill, now 26, holds leadership roles across all formats he’s the Test and ODI captain and the vice-captain in T20Is. Agarkar acknowledged the heavy workload but said they’ll manage it carefully to avoid burnout, while still giving Gill enough time to grow into the role before the next World Cup.

Rohit Sharma, 38, had been India’s full-time ODI captain since December 2021. He led the team in 56 matches, winning 42 of them. Under his leadership, India won the Asia Cup twice in 2018 as stand-in captain and in 2023 as full-time captain. He also guided India to the final of the 2023 ODI World Cup and ended his tenure with a Champions Trophy win.

Gill had already taken over as Test captain earlier this year after Rohit retired from the format. In his first series as Test captain, Gill led India to a 2-2 draw in England and was the top run-scorer with 754 runs at an average of 75.40.

With Rohit and Kohli retired from Tests and T20Is, the ODI series in Australia will be their first international appearance in over seven months. After the Australia tour, they are expected to play in the home ODI series against South Africa in November-December and against New Zealand in January.

India’s schedule in Australia includes three ODIs on October 19, 23, and 25, followed by five T20Is from October 29 to November 8

India's ODI squad for Australia

Shubman Gill (c), Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer (VC), KL Rahul (wk), Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal.

India's T20I squad for Australia

Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Shubman Gill (vc), Nitish Kumar Reddy ,Axar Patel, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (wk), Washington Sundar, Rinku Singh.