Shubman Gill was handed the reins of the ODI team, replacing Rohit Sharma ahead of the three-match series against Australia later this month.
Star India batter Rohit Sharma was stripped of the ODI captaincy duties as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) didn’t want the team culture to get disturbed, according to a report. On Saturday, Test captain Shubman Gill was also handed the reins of the ODI team, replacing Rohit ahead of the three-match series against Australia later this month. On the decision to remove Rohit, BCCI’s chief selector Ajit Agarkar opined that it was ‘practically impossible’ to have three different captains across formats.
However, a report in the Times of India (TOI) has claimed that the selectors didn’t want Rohit to dictate things his own way, as they feared that it could have impacted the team culture in a negative way.
“A player of Rohit’s stature in a leadership role would have meant he would get to drive his philosophy in the dressing room. But with him playing only in ODIs, a format which is played the least, it could have disturbed the team culture,” the Times of India quoted a BCCI source as saying.
The report revealed that Gautam Gambhir took the backseat in his first six months as head coach and only started interfering in team matters following the Test series defeats to New Zealand (home) and Australia (away).
“Gambhir had taken a back seat in Tests and ODIs in the first six months of his assignment, but the debacles against New Zealand and Australia prompted him to take charge more firmly,” the source added.
Both Rohit and Virat Kohli will be playing under Gill’s captaincy in Australia. While it is not clear whether the two would be able to stick around till the 2027 ODI World Cup, Gambhir and Agarkar didn’t want to face a situation where both senior players’ form suddenly “dipped.”
