The Indian men’s cricket team has officially entered a new era with Shubman Gill now its leading face, having taken over from Rohit Sharma as both the Test and ODI captain. Last week, in a surprising announcement,
Rohit was removed as the ODI skipper despite overseeing India’s invincible campaign at the Champions Trophy earlier this year in Dubai.
According to reports, current head coach Gautam Gambhir and chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar were central to the appointment of Gill as the ODI skipper for the three-match ODI series against Australia later this month.
Additionally, both Rohit and Virat Kohli reportedly aren’t in their scheme of things for the 2027 ODI World Cup either, meaning their days as India cricketers are numbered, if true. The duo has already retired from Tests and T20Is.
At a cricket awards show in Mumbai, Rohit, in his first public appearance since the ODI squad for the Australia tour was announced, recalled India’s Champions Trophy campaign after being awarded a special memento for the triumph.
“Look, I love that team, loved playing with them and it’s a journey that we were all into, for many years. It’s not about one year or two years of work. It was about getting into work from many years,” Rohit said.
“We’d come so close to winning that (ICC) trophy many times, but we couldn’t just get over the line. That is where everyone decided that we need to do something different and there’s two (ways) to look at it,” he added.
No Room For Complacency
Rohit then touched upon the general shift in mindset that helped India end their ICC trophy drought last year when they won the 2024 T20 World Cup. Prior to that, India frustratingly came close to winning the 2023 ODI World Cup at home after reaching the final unbeaten where they were bested by Australia.
“There’s always a thought of doing that and then actually going and doing that. It cannot be done by one or two players. We needed everyone to buy into that thought, which was good from everyone,” Rohit said.
“All the guys who took part in that competition (Champions Trophy) got into that thought process of how to win games and how to challenge ourselves and not be complacent and not to take anything for granted,” he added.
Rohit Avoids Mentioning Gambhir
The legendary Rahul Dravid was the head coach when India lifted the T20 World Cup, following which he stepped away. Another former India batter, Gautam Gambhir, succeeded him and under his watch, Rohit led India to another ICC title in the Champions Trophy.
Interestingly, Rohit credited Rahul for setting the base for India’s back-to-back ICC title triumphs.
“Those were the qualities that we tried to bring in and we thought it was a good method of just going and doing that repeatedly. Everyone enjoyed that process. Once we got over the line when we won the first game, we completely put that game aside and then started focusing on the next one,” he said.
“That was really good from the team and that is something that helped me and Rahul bhai when we were planning for the (2024) T20 World Cup, and then on to the Champions Trophy. We just carried it well. In 2023, although we didn’t cross the line in the finals, we set out to do something as a team and everyone did that,” he added.
