The winds of change are blowing through Indian cricket. A new head coach, a new T20I captain and a new limited overs vice-captain will travel to Sri Lanka in their first series since the T20 World Cup triumph last month.
It was assumed that Hardik Pandya would take over the reins once Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli announced their retirement from the shortest format, but Suryakumar Yadav’s elevation to the hot seat has been met with awe and bewilderment.
The choice of the vice-captain — Shubman Gill — though has a hint of the transition phase the team will have to go through as Rohit nears the closing stages of his playing career.
Gill didn’t even find a berth in the XV for the T20 World Cup in the US and the West Indies, but by some quirk of fate is now the limited overs vice-captain, having earned the trust of Gambhir and the national selectors.
Suryakumar Yadav, who will lead India in the Sri Lanka T20Is. PTI
At 33, Surya is by no means young and not being looked at for the long term. The team will have to bet on a new captain after the next World
Cup in 2026 and the groundwork for the road ahead has already begun.
Gill’s choice is also an indication that the BCCI is ready to look beyond KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah. Rahul’s ambitions seem to have taken a nosedive with the departure of Rahul Dravid.
For long, Rahul had been projected as the next in line, taking over the mantle of captaincy in all formats whenever Rohit was unavailable. Bumrah stepped in when both Rohit and Rahul were unavailable during the final Test of the unfinished series in Birmingham in 2022. But workload management has come in the way of Bumrah’s promotion to the top post.
A lot of hope had been riding on Pant because of his attacking instincts. Even Sunil Gavaskar lauded Pant’s temperament as a leader. But the horrific accident forced the selectors to look beyond him.
There was no way Pandya would have retained the vice-captaincy once Surya got the coveted post. It also wouldn’t have been fair on
Pandya following the selectors’ show of scant respect for hierarchy.
Gill, 24, was the ideal choice given his cool temperament and leadership acumen. There is no doubting his talent though his batting graph hasn’t shown an upswing in T20Is as witnessed in Test cricket and the ODIs.
The recently concluded T20I series in Zimbabwe once again highlighted that Gill has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to matching the intent of an Abhishek Sharma or a Yashasvi Jaiswal. Abhishek hasn’t been picked for the Sri Lanka tour, but remains in the selectors’ scheme of things.
Gill enjoyed a sensational last year in ODIs which culminated in the opener finishing on top of the batting charts with 1584 runs in 29 matches ahead of Virat Kohli. Gill also finished as second highest run-getter, behind Jaiswal, in the last Test series against England.
India have never had different captains for all three formats and that is one of the reasons behind the selectors’ decision to make Gill vice-captain in limited-overs cricket.
The BCCI has already retained Rohit as captain till the Champions Trophy next year and the World Test Championship cycle. He will be 38 next year and turn 40 when the next ODI World Cup happens.
Rohit’s endurance and fitness is sure to be put to the test, and if he doesn’t continue, the search for a new captain has to begin now. Gill has the confidence of the head coach, enjoys the trust of the players and has the ability to take the team to the next level.
Gambhir has never been swayed by the star culture which dominates Indian cricket. Time and again he has been critical of the the focus on stars rather than star performances in Indian cricket.
The head coach has revelled in bringing new faces to the forefront and Gill’s promotion is a step in keeping with his ideologies. Be assured, Gill will be given a fair run and Gambhir will back him to the hilt as India’s next all-format captain.
