
Shubman Gill has replaced Rohit Sharma as the new captain of India’s one-day international team. The announcement was made by selection committee chairman Ajit Agarkar during a press conference in Ahmedabad on Saturday, 4 October, to unveil India’s ODI and T20I squads for the upcoming tour of Australia.
Rohit Sharma, who guided India to Champions Trophy glory earlier in February, has been included in the ODI squad alongside former captain Virat Kohli. Both Rohit and Kohli are set to return to competitive cricket for the first time since the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) season.
"It’s practically impossible to have three different captains for the three formats in terms of planning and consistency. At some stage, you also have to look ahead to the next World Cup," Agarkar said, an hour after India hammered the West Indies in the first Test of a two-match series by an innings and 140 runs.
India will play three ODIs between October 19 and 25 in Australia. The Asian giants will also play five T20Is between October 29 and November 8.
India appointed Shreyas Iyer as the vice-captain of the ODI team.
Agarkar added that the team management, the selectors and board decided to give Shubman Gill enough time before the 2027 World Cup, which is scheduled to be held in October-November in South Africa and Zimbabwe.
“One-day cricket is the format played the least, which means there aren’t many opportunities to give the next captain time to prepare. We are two years away from the World Cup – that might seem like a long time, but the number of ODIs between now and then will be limited. You might get a few closer to the tournament, but the schedule is uncertain. For instance, the last ODI we played was in March, and the next one isn’t until October 19. That shows the challenge we face with one-day cricket at the moment," he said.
INDIA 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.
Shubman Gill, who was handed the captain’s armband in Test cricket earlier this year, is increasingly being viewed as a potential all-format captain for India. He had replaced Rohit Sharma as Test skipper after Rohit retired from the longest format midway through the IPL season. Under Shubman’s leadership, India secured a 2-2 draw in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, silencing critics with his performances in a challenging five-Test series.
Gill was Suryakumar Yadav's deputy in the recently-concluded Asia Cup.
Rohit was expected to lead the Indian team on their tour of Australia, but it seems the selectors took the call to look past the 38-year-old after discussing the call with head coach Gautam Gambhir and BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma retired from Test cricket ahead of the England tour, surprising many with their decisions. The two veterans are now active in only one format of international cricket, having previously retired from T20Is following India's T20 World Cup triumph last year.
There had been doubts over Rohit and Kohli's availability for the upcoming tour of Australia, but both have been seen working diligently on their fitness in the lead-up to the series. Rohit has been involved in indoor net sessions in Mumbai, working under the guidance of Abhishek Nayar, while Kohli has been training in London.
Rohit had said after the Champions Trophy triumph that he has no plans to retire from one-day internationals. He even sent an X-rated message to critics while celebrating the victory with Virat Kohli in Dubai on the day of the final.
"Koi future plan ni hai. Jo chal ra hai wo chalega (There’s no future plan, things will keep on going as they are). I'm not going to retire from this format. Just to make sure that no rumours are spread moving forward," said Rohit.
However, the equation dramatically changed after Rohit and Kohli retired from Test cricket despite having returned to play domestic cricket in a bid to seal spots in the squad for England tour. The duo retired midway through the IPL, adding to the speculation over their future in international cricket.