Fans have been left distraught as the selectors have unveiled Shubman Gill as the ODI captain ahead of the Australia tour, replacing Rohit Sharma in the role. A section of fans lashed out at chief of selectors Ajit Agarkar, claiming it as pure disrespect, given Rohit's accomplishments in the role.
The 38-year-old has an outstanding record as Team India's white-ball captain, notably helping them break the 13-year-old ICC trophy drought last year, by ushering the national side to T20 World Cup trophy. Having captained India in 56 ODIs, he led them to 42 victories and suffered only 12 losses and notably led them to Champions Trophy glory earlier this year. In T20Is, the elegant right-hander suffered only 12 defeats out of 62 matches.
With the captaincy change, Rohit's dream of playing the 2027 World Cup could also be in jeopardy. A few fans also predicted that Rohit and Kohli will retire from ODIs following the Australia series.
Watch some of the netizens' reactions to Rohit's removal as captain:
Team India's squads:
India’s 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.
India’s 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.
The tour of Australia begins on October 19, with the first of the three ODIs set to be hosted by the Optus Stadium in Perth. The two sides will also play five T20Is to prepare for the World Cup next year in India and Sri Lanka.
