On Saturday, October 4, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced India’s white-ball squads for Australia tour. While the squad announcement brought joy on Indian fans faces as it marks the return of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli - the duo who retired from T20I and Test cricket in just some months time, keeping them active only in ODIs.
Moreover, what came a shock was Rohit Sharma being snubbed of ODI captaincy and Shubman Gill replacing him at helm. Moreover, the BCCI selection committee-led by Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar also saw Shreyas Iyer being appointed as Gill’s deputy in the 50-over format and Rohit and Kohli just remaining as players.
End of an era (45) and the start of a new one (77): Rohit Sharma’s 13-year-old post resurfaces after captaincy snub
Seeing this massive shift where the BCCI aims to find an all-format skipper in Shubman
Gill, Rohit Sharma’s old tweet went viral. IN a tweet which Rohit posted on X on September 14, 2012, read, “End of an era (45) and the start of a new one (77).” The numbers referenced to their jersey numbers as Rohit Sharma wears number 45 whereas Shubman Gill dons 77 numbered jersey.
It is to be noted that the captaincy shift in ODIs saw fans drop mixed reactions. While several fans hit back at BCCI, lauding Rohit Sharma’s achievements in the format and recalling the recent ICC title wins which saw the Indian team get hands on two ICC titles in last three ICC finals.
India’s white-ball squads for Australia tour:
ODI squad: Shubman Gill (Captain), 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.
T20I squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill (VC), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar.
