After a long wait, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has finally revealed the ODI and T20I squads for the upcoming white ball tour of Australia starting on October 19.
Fans are excited about the comeback of the Indian batting stalwarts Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who will feature in competitive cricket after a long time.
As the duo of veteran stars is currently active in their ODI career, there is another piece of shocking news that left the entire cricket world stunned.
BCCI named Shubman Gill as the new captain, replacing Rohit Sharma. This left fans outraged with countless criticisms and trolls against the Indian cricket board on social media.
Also, the former cricketers questioned the BCCI’s decision to axe Hitman from the captaincy role. So, the mix of good and bad news leaves fans questioning the end of Ro-Ko’s era.
Former Indian Bowler Unhappy With Rohit Sharma’s ODI Captaincy Snub
Harbhajan Singh, the former spinner of the Indian cricket team, congratulated Shubman Gill for entering a new role as the ODI captain.
At the same time, he was left shocked by the BCCI’s decision to snub Rohit Sharma from the captaincy role despite boasting a huge success rate in the 50-over format:
“Congratulations to Shubman Gill! The current test captain in test cricket has been leading the team well, and now he has another responsibility to lead the team in ODIs as well. Certainly, it would be a new challenge for him as he has never performed that role before.
Speaking about Gill replacing Rohit Sharma as a captain, it was shocking news for me. In white ball cricket, Rohit is one such brilliant captain with an impressive success rate.
Once he was selected, I strongly believed that he would travel to Australia as the ODI captain again. Having won the Champions Trophy 2025 and other tournaments before, he has been the pillar of the Indian cricket team, particularly in the limited-overs format.
I believe he should be given another opportunity, perhaps till the next World Cup. So, what I mean to say is that the ODI World Cup 2027 is still very far for Gill.
While I’m happy for Gill taking over the captaincy role, at the same time, it’s disappointing for me that Rohit Sharma is not the captain anymore in the ODI format,” Harbhajan said.
Why Shubman Gill Replaced Rohit Sharma as the ODI Captain?
BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar, speaking in a press conference in Ahmedabad, said that it was highly impossible to have three captains for three different formats.
“ See! With the 2027 ODI World Cup on the way, it is impossible to have three captains across all formats. We felt this was the right time for a transition to have a new skipper, who could find opportunities and build a strong team,” Agarkar said.
However, the 47-year-old former Indian cricketer said Rohit Sharma was well aware of this decision. He chose not to reveal anything when asked about the future of Rohit and Kohli.
Also, Agarkar refused to respond to anything when asked if Ro-Ko would participate in the 2027 ODI World Cup.
Rohit Sharma or Shubman Gill? Who Should Have Been India’s ODI Captain?
Apart from the aging factor, there is nothing wrong that Rohit Sharma has done, which led the BCCI to sack the most successful captain from the leadership role. The 38-year-old guided India to triumph in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. And by the time Rohit plays the next World Cup, his age would be around 39 or 40.
Although India concluded as the runner-up in the ODI World Cup 2023, the men in blue won ten consecutive matches under their captaincy before losing to Australia in the final.
India’s 15-Member ODI Squad vs Australia 2025
The 3-match ODI series against Australia is scheduled on October 19th (Sunday), 23rd (Thursday), and 25th (Saturday).
Here is the 15-member ODI squad led by Shubman Gill with Shreyas Iyer serving as his deputy, where Rohit and Kohli will just feature as players:
- Shubman Gill (Captain): Batter
- Rohit Sharma: Batter
- Virat Kohli: Batter
- Shreyas Iyer (Vice Captain): Batter
- Axar Patel: Spin Bowling All-Rounder
- KL Rahul: Wicketkeeper-Batter
- Nitish Kumar Reddy: Fast Bowling All-Rounder
- Washington Sundar: Spin Bowling All-Rounder
- Dhruv Jurel: Wicketkeeper and Batter
- Yashasvi Jaiswal: Batter
- Kuldeep Yadav: Spin Bowler
- Harshit Rana: Fast Bowler
- Mohammed Siraj: Fast Bowler
- Arshdeep Singh: Fast Bowler
- Prasidh Krishna: Fast Bowler
India’s 16-Member T20I Squad vs Australia 2025
After the completion of the 50-over contests, Team India under Suryakumar Yadav’s captaincy will begin the 5-match T20I series scheduled on October 29 (Wednesday), October 31 (Friday), November 02 (Sunday), November 06 (Thursday), and November 08 (Saturday).
Here is the list of India’s 16-member squad, where the new ODI captain Shubman Gill has once again been appointed as SKY’s deputy:
- Abhishek Sharma: Spin Bowling All-Rounder
- Shubman Gill (Vice Captain): Batter
- Suryakumar Yadav (Captain): Batter
- Tilak Varma: Batter
- Sanju Samson: Wicketkeeper and Batter
- Nitish Kumar Reddy: Fast Bowling All-Rounder
- Rinku Singh: Batter
- Shivam Dube: Fast Bowling All-Rounder
- Axar Patel: Spin Bowling All-Rounder
- Washington Sundar: Spin Bowling All-Rounder
- Jitesh Sharma: Wicketkeeper and Batter
- Varun Chakaravarthy: Spin Bowler
- Jasprit Bumrah: Fast Bowler
- Arshdeep Singh: Fast Bowler
- Kuldeep Yadav: Spin Bowler
- Harshit Rana: Fast Bowler
Conclusion
Rohit Sharma boasts an outstanding success rate of 85% as India’s ODI captain, compared to Virat Kohli (68.4%) and MS Dhoni (55%).
After the 2022 T20 World Cup, Team India, led by Rohit, has been highly dominant in ICC tournaments, having won 23 out of 24 matches, which includes the only defeat to the Aussies in the ODI World Cup 2023 final in Ahmedabad.
Although this is a bold decision taken by the BCCI to groom a young successor like Shubman Gill, sacking Rohit Sharma from the captaincy broke millions of fans’ hearts.