Future of India in ODIs: Should Rohit Sharma continue as Captain or Is Shubman Gill the right successor?
Team India are set to embark on a new journey in the Test format with the retirement of several high profile cricketers and the appointment of Shubman Gill as new skipper. This brings up a debate on how ODI cricket shapes up for India in terms of captaincy in the near future.
With an eye on the upcoming ICC World Cup 2027, this article tries to analyse who will lead India’s ODI side going into the marquee event. Will it be one of India’s most successful white-ball captains Rohit Sharma, or the current Test skipper Shubman Gill.
Retaining Rohit Sharma as ODI skipper
At this point in time, Rohit Sharma is still the ODI captain of India, fresh from leading the side successfully in the Champions Trophy 2025. This should alone be sufficient for Rohit’s case as he bids to win his maiden ODI World Cup in 2027.
But there is a catch as Rohit Sharma will be 40 by the time the World Cup commences and India are not scheduled to play that many ODIs as they used to in the previous decades. Having retired from Tests and T20Is, the ODI format is the only competitive format Rohit will play other than the IPL. This raises a big question mark on his fitness as he doesn’t play round the clock.
Even in the recent IPL season, Rohit didn’t field 20 overs in a game, owing to his fitness. He played as a substitute more often than not. Going forward, he will need game time to remain match fit and maintain his form at the highest level.Â
It will be interesting to see if Rohit decides to play domestic cricket round the year to overcome these challenges.
This is to take nothing away from Rohit Sharma, the ODI batter. He is a batting legend in his own right. However, being a skipper he will take up a position irrespective of his form and fitness.
So, it is upto BCCI to take a call right now and not repeat the same situation as in the Test format. The red-ball team is going through a sudden transition, something they should avoid in the ODI format, especially closer to the World Cup.
Read More: Rohit, Virat redeem themselves in ODI format with CT 25 win
Gill leading in ODI
Shubman Gill is touted to take over the captaincy reigns in the ODI format as well. He was the designated vice-captain in CT 2025 for India and it’s a no-brainer that he will elevted to the captain’s role down the line, especially given his stupendous batting record in the format. He has scored 2,775 runs in just 55 ODIs at an impressive average of 59.04.
He plays throughout the year, being part of ODI and Tests teams and then the IPL. So he is travelling and playing matches throughout the year at some capacity. He is also really young and giving him captaincy now will help him settle in that role going into the World Cup 2027.
Gill can formulate his own style of leading India’s white-ball team and more importantly give him much needed time to learn.
Read More: Expectations from India’s new Test captain Shubman Gill
