Shubman Gill takes over as BCCI strips Rohit Sharma of ODI captaincy

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has removed Rohit Sharma as India’s One Day International (ODI) captain, handing the leadership to Shubman Gill in a significant generational shift.

Gill's vice-captain for the Australia series will be Shreyas Iyer.

According to Indian media, the decision, taken by the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee in consultation with head coach Gautam Gambhir, comes just months after Rohit lifted the Champions Trophy, a triumph that proved insufficient to extend his captaincy tenure.

At 26, Gill has quickly established himself as the face of India’s new cricketing era. Having already replaced Rohit as Test captain following his retirement from the format, Gill was widely seen as the natural successor in ODIs. The management made the switch with an eye on the 2027 ODI World Cup, which will be co-hosted by South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

“A couple of things really, firstly it's practically impossible to have three different captains for three formats, just in terms of planning, obviously at some stage you got to start looking at where the next World Cup is, it's also a format which is played the least now," Agarkar said at a press conference in Ahmedabad. 

"So you don't get that many games to actually give the next guy, or if there is going to be another guy, that much time to prepare himself or plan," he added.

Agarkar confirmed Rohit had been informed of the decision but refused to comment on whether Rohit Sharma or Virat Kohli — both retired from T20Is and Tests — would feature in the 2027 World Cup. “That’s the format they are at the moment playing, we picked them as far as the 2027 World Cup is concerned. I don’t think we need to talk about it today,” Agarkar told reporters.

Both players have not represented India since the Champions Trophy victory in March.

The new leadership change comes as India prepare for a hectic schedule. After the ongoing two-Test series against West Indies, India travel to Australia for three ODIs and five T20Is starting October 19. They will return home to host South Africa for a two-Test series, three ODIs and five T20Is.

Meanwhile, India began their Test season strongly, crushing the West Indies by an innings and 140 runs in Ahmedabad. Spinner Ravindra Jadeja claimed four wickets as India bowled the visitors out for 146 inside three days.

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.

— With additional input from AFP