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Rohit Sharma's succession plan could have been postponed, is it all too soon and quick for Shubman Gill
It’s been a whirlwind emotional roller-coaster for Shubman Gill, whose rise from a star-in-the-making to the beacon of hope has been staggeringly frenetic.
Four and a half months ago, Shubman Gill was just one of the boys tasked with taking Indian cricket into the future. Today, the 26-year-old has become the unquestioned leader of men. The future is here already.
It’s been a whirlwind emotional roller-coaster for Gill, whose rise from a star-in-the-making to the beacon of hope has been staggeringly frenetic. At the beginning of May, he was still trying to find his feet as India’s Test No. 3, a position occupied with distinction by Cheteshwar Pujara and, before him, Rahul Dravid. He was deputy to Rohit Sharma in the 50-over format and hadn’t played a Twenty20 International since July 2024.
Rohit’s retirement from Test cricket in the second week of May, coupled with the necessity to manage Jasprit Bumrah’s pesky back, catapulted Gill to the helm of the five-day team for the tour of England. The jury was out at the time; Gill’s away Test record in Asia was middling to poor, he had a highest of 36 in his preceding 18 innings outside Asia. In two months, he won the detractors over with 754 mellifluous runs while leading his side to an honourable 2-2 in his first bite at the Test captaincy cherry.
Within weeks of returning from England, Gill was back in the T20I mix, as Suryakumar Yadav’s deputy at the Asia Cup in Dubai, which India clinched dramatically towards the end of September. A box and a half ticked. The circle was complete on Saturday when Ajit Agarkar’s selection panel conferred the ODI captaincy too on the right-hander from Punjab, choosing to overlook the fact that in his last assignment, Rohit had steered the team to the Champions Trophy crown in March.
Also Read: BCCI removes Rohit Sharma as India's ODI captain, Shubman Gill to take over from Australia series
Gill’s ascension to the 50-over throne is not a reflection on Rohit’s leadership or batting skills – he slammed a match-winning 76 against New Zealand in the Dubai final seven months ago – but a consequence of the insistence of the decision-makers to put in motion a succession plan that could have been postponed by a few months. Whether it is fair to burden Gill with so much so early is a burning question to which there are no immediate answers.
Merely playing all three formats consistently is a huge challenge for an Indian cricketer, given the demand for the national team. To do so in a leadership capacity comes with demands of varied and complex kinds, such as but not limited to helming team meetings and discharging media duties. In all this, having to switch formats at the drop of a hat and deliver in each of them will test the character and skillsets of the most seasoned. Gill will undergo that examination in the next few weeks; hopefully, he will be able to ace a stern appraisal of his fortitude, as much as his abilities.
Gill’s international schedule since the third week of June reads thus: five Tests in England, seven T20Is in the UAE, one Test against West Indies, with another starting on Friday. The Delhi Test is scheduled to end on October 14, and India play the first of three ODIs in Perth on October 19, in Gill’s debut as the country’s next 50-over leader. The last of five T20Is is in Brisbane on November 8, and India play South Africa in a Test in Kolkata from November 14. The Guwahati Test, scheduled to conclude on November 26, precedes three ODIs and five T20Is. Afterwards, India will host New Zealand for eight white-ball games in January, leading up to the T20 World Cup in February-March. Just writing out the schedule is gruelling; one can’t even start to imagine what it must be like to be in the thick of things, as captain and lead batter in two formats and as the vice-captain in the third. Are we forcing Gill to bite off more than he can chew?
Agarkar’s contention that while two years (the period between now and the next 50-over World Cup) might appear a long time, it is not really so because ODIs aren’t played frequently is a well-reasoned argument. But couldn’t his committee have waited for a few more months so that Gill’s load could be managed better? Preparations for the 50-over World Cup won’t begin in earnest until after the T20 World Cup; that would still have given Gill a year and a half to stamp his authority on the ODI setup while easing into the leadership scheme of things and taking the odd game/series off to refresh and recharge batteries.
Gill’s a level-headed, intelligent young man, so the chances of him being weighed down by the sudden and newfound challenges should be minimal. But one can’t help but wonder if all this is a little too much, too soon and way too quickly.
