The BCCI move, initiated by chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar, of passing the ODI captaincy from Rohit Sharma to Shubman Gill is a harbinger of more than a change of guard. It’s a clear indication that the careers of Indian cricket’s contemporary legends, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, could be on the last leg.
Make no mistake this is not a one-off move. With each of the words Agarkar said when he made the announcement, it became more and more clear: the chances of Rohit and Kohli playing in the 2027 ODI World Cup are disappearing. Age, of course, is a consideration Rohit will be 40, and Kohli will be 38 when the tournament begins in South Africa. But the real concern is their absence of regular match work.
Having already moved away from Tests and T20Is, ODIs are now the sole international format available for both superstars. Sustaining top form and match fitness in the next two years, without regular competitive cricket, is a formidable task. Their reluctance to take part in domestic tournaments only fuels the alarm.
Cricket icon Sunil Gavaskar supported the move to appoint Gill as captain and proposed that even Rohit may sign off in silence that it was time for change. India are set to play at least 27 ODIs prior to the 2027 World Cup maybe more in terms of FTP so there is an evident master plan being laid out for the future, and it does not seem to include a career for the Ro-Ko pair for the long term.
“We don’t know whether Rohit Sharma will be ready for the 2027 World Cup. He only plays ODIs now, and if we see the international calendar, the Indian team isn’t playing too many ODIs. Bilateral tours mostly include Tests and T20Is. If he only plays 5-7 ODIs in a year, he won’t get that kind of practice, which you need for a big tournament like a World Cup. If his place in the team isn’t certain, the decision to prepare Shubman Gill was taken,” Gavaskar told Sports Tak.
“Team comes from. Personally, he has done a lot – won us the Champions Trophy and the T20 World Cup before that. There’s no two ways about his captaincy. But even he (Rohit Sharma) agrees with this decision because if you need to think two years ahead, then a young captain needs to be prepared. And this is the thought process the selection committee went ahead with.”
“Of course. If you are non-committal, if you can’t say whether you’ll be ready for the next two years, be ready [for more bad news]. Even they are aware that if they only have to play ODI, there are rarely any. For that, they need to practice more and play something like the Vijay Hazare Trophy. This is possibly why they have taken that stance.”
