The message is clear that Shubman Gill will be an all-format captain: Sunil Gavaskar

Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar has revealed that he wasn’t surprised to see Shubman Gill as the new ODI captain, replacing Rohit Sharma for the forthcoming Australian tour, starting on October 19.

Speaking on Sports Today, Gavaskar has observed that it’s important for Gill to have enough time with the current squad to prepare for the forthcoming ICC ODI World Cup, scheduled to take place in 2027 in South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe. 

"Not surprised because you've got to look forward to 2027, the next 50-over World Cup. At the moment, the T20I captaincy is in the hands of Suryakumar Yadav, who just won us the Asia Cup. Shubman was the vice-captain there. So, clearly the message is that he will soon be an all-format captain," Gavaskar told Sports Today.

Also, Gavaskar asserted that with Gill already being the vice-captain in T20Is, everyone can expect him to be a captain across formats in the near future. On the other hand, the Indian chief selector Ajit Agarkar, after announcing the limited-overs squads for the Australian tour, disclosed that it’s practically impossible to have three different captains across formats. Gavaskar also opined the same.

"Whoever is going to lead, has got to be an absolute certainty. He has got to be an automatic pick in the XI. In that case, you can have him as captain. It is not easy to have three different captains. It is not easy for the other players in the team who might be playing all three formats. If a player is good enough to captain in one format, he should be the captain in all three formats," he added.

India’s ODI squad for Australia tour: Shubman Gill (C), 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.

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