Ajit Agarkar, India’s head selector, has detailed the logic for Rohit Sharma’s captaincy transition to Shubman Gill in one-day internationals, acknowledging that it was a “difficult” but crucial choice made with the team’s future needs in mind.
Agarkar believes that with the 50-over format taking a backseat in the international schedule, opportunities to test leadership qualities remain limited as India prepares for the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia.
If Rohit Sharma had retained the ODI captaincy, India would have had three different captains for three forms, which Agarkar described as “practically impossible”.
“Firstly, it’s practically impossible to have three different captains for three formats, just in terms of planning. Obviously, at some stage, you’ve got to start looking at where the next World Cup is. It’s also a format which is played the least now,” Agarkar said after announcing India’s squad.
“So, you don’t get that many games to actually give the next guy, or if there is going to be another guy, that much time to prepare himself or plan. And we’re two years away still. That might look like a long time, but we don’t quite know how many one-day games we might play. Closer to the World Cup, we might end up playing a little bit more than what we have. But the last one-day game we played was, what, 8th or 9th March in Champions Trophy. And the next one we play is in October 19th,” he said.
“So, it is a bit of a challenge with one-day cricket at the moment. Of course, the focus has been on T20 World Cup. But surely we’ll start planning for that World Cup to come. So as a plan, it gives the next guy enough time to plan with whatever games that we have coming. And it is very difficult to have three different captains for three formats.
“In terms of not just selectors, but more importantly, even for the coach, to plan with three different people is never easy,” he added.
Asked whether or not Rohit was communicated about the decision beforehand and how did he react, Agarkar stated that the senior player was kept in loop. However, he did not reveal any details of Rohit’s reaction to the same.
“I mean, that’s a conversation between me and Rohit. Or us (selectors) and Rohit. But, of course, it’s been communicated,” he said.
(On Rohit being removed after winning Champions Trophy 2025) “Even if Rohit wouldn’t have won Champions Trophy, this was a difficult decision. But sometimes you have to look forward, where you stand, interest of the team etc. Tough call,” he added.
The move essentially means that Gill holds a leadership position in all three formats, as he is the Test and ODI captain and the vice-captain to Suryakumar Yadav in the T20I unit.
Meanwhile, Rohit, who has been picked in the ODI squad alongside Virat Kohli, will open the batting with Gill. His last international appearance was in March 2025, during the Champions Trophy, which India won under his leadership.
Rohit, who took charge as India’s full-time ODI captain in December 2021 as Kohli’s successor, had a stellar run in the position, winning 42 of the 56 ODIs he skippered in, which translates to a win percentage of 75. India lost only 12 games, while one each ended in a tie and no result.
Rohit enjoyed fair bit of success at multi-team events as the captain, leading the team to 2018 Asia Cup title as a stand-in skipper before winning the 2023 Asia Cup as the full-time captain. Under him, India also made it to the final of the 2023 ODI World Cup, the summit clash of which they lost to Australia to finish as runners-up. Rohit’s reign as an ODI leader ended with the 2025 Champions Trophy triumph.
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