Shubman Gill vs MS Dhoni vs Virat Kohli: Where does India's new ODI captain stand when compared to modern greats

Shubman Gill's captaincy debut in ODIs comes with significant pressure as he replaces Rohit Sharma. Having excelled in Tests, he now faces a big challenge.

Updated on: Oct 17, 2025, 21:23:47 IST

By Probuddha Bhattacharjee

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The Indian cricket fraternity was taken by storm when the ODI squad for the Australia tour was announced. The removal of Rohit Sharma as the captain of the team and the installation of Shubman Gill surprised most of the fans.

MS Dhoni and Shubman Gill during IPL (AP)

The young Indian opener has done a good job in the Test format as a captain, drawing the five-Test-match series in England and then winning the West Indies series at home. Now, the job gets tough for him as he has to manage players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the team, work around his team, while setting a preparatory ground for the 2027 ODI World Cup.

ODI batting profile of MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill ahead of their first Australia tour as Captain

Batting profile of MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill (HT)

Inference

Virat Kohli’s line jumps off the page. By 11th January 20198, he had already breached the 10,000 ODI runs with a surreal average of 60.20 and 38 Hundreds, underpinned by a calendar year of 1,202 runs in 2018. His already proven credentials made the Australia tour less of an audition and more of a validation tour. This is why the pre-analysis framed the ODIs as an extension of a winning algorithm rather than a search for answers.

MS Dhoni’s pre-CB series dossier reads differently but is no less telling. A 2,838-run ledger at 94.66 strike rate shows a master already at work at a modern tempo. Dhoni was building his side for the upcoming World Cup by then. This explains India’s then selection policy of going for a younger side for the tour.

Shubman Gill arrives in 2025 with a 59.04 career average and a near 100 strike rate on the eve of his captaincy debut in ODIs. The numbers that already match the format’s modern speed limit. The question in his case is not batting ceiling but leadership rhythm in Australian conditions.

Captaincy numbers inference

Captaincy profiles of Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and Shubman Gill (HT)

Dhoni reached Australia with only a dozen ODIs as captain. But they were high-pressure trials. His sample was small, yet it showed a willingness to take hard calls and back a faster, younger unit. Kohli arrived in 2019 with heavyweight captaincy mileage and a proven template - role clarity, wrist-spin dominance, and elite chase execution. Contrary to the two predecessors, Gill lands in Australia with zero ODI matches as captain. The pressure will be on him to establish himself as a leader of the unit and someone who leads from the front.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Probuddha Bhattacharjee
Probuddha Bhattacharjee is a sports writer and analyst with expertise spanning cricket, football, and multi-sport events, with a strong emphasis on data-driven journalism and tactical storytelling. He currently focuses on international cricket, the Indian Premier League, global tournaments, and emerging trends shaping modern sport, blending advanced statistics with strong narrative context to explain performance, strategy, and decision-making. His work aims to bridge the gap between numbers and storytelling, helping readers understand not just what happened on the field, but the tactical and structural reasons behind it. Trained in data journalism through the Google News Initiative (GNI) Data Journalism Lab, Probuddha works extensively with ball-by-ball datasets, performance metrics, and trend-based modelling to produce evidence-backed reports, explainers, and long-form features. His analytical approach focuses not only on outcomes but also on process—selection strategies, phase-wise tactics, workload management, and the influence of preparation and planning on match results. He is particularly interested in how statistical patterns reshape conventional cricketing narratives and provide clearer tactical insight for modern audiences. Beyond cricket, Probuddha has written analytical and news-driven pieces on football and other major sporting events, with a growing interest in sports governance, scheduling dynamics, and the economics of elite competitions. He also tracks how rule changes, franchise structures, and broadcast pressures influence the evolution of contemporary sport. He has previously contributed to platforms such as OneCricket, Sportskeeda, and CrickTracker, and continues to specialise in analytical storytelling, live coverage, and audience-focused reporting. His work prioritises clarity, context, and credibility, while consistently exploring innovative ways to present data through accessible narratives and structured match analysis.Read More

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