Shubman made his ODI captaincy debut in Perth, with Shreyas being his deputy.
Shubman Gill’s ODI captaincy tenure began with a heavy seven-wicket defeat against Australia in the rain-marred affair at Perth on Sunday (October 19).
The leadership baton was passed over to Gill as the selectors removed the 38-year-old Rohit Sharma from ODI captaincy earlier this month, keeping the 2027 World Cup firmly in sight. Shreyas Iyer was named Gill’s deputy for the Australia series by the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee.
Ahead of the start of India’s innings in Perth ODI, former Indian skipper Virat Kohli won hearts for his gesture for the new captain-deputy duo.
In a video doing rounds on social media, Kohli can be seen stepping aside to allow Shubman and Shreyas to take the field first for the national anthem.
The Perth ODI also marked Rohit and Kohli’s return to international cricket after seven months. However, the veteran campaigners failed to live up to the expectations on comeback, getting dismissed for 8 and 0 by Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc respectively.
Things turned to worse when in-form Gill was removed by Nathan Ellis for 10 as the Australian pacer trio reduced the visitors to 25/3 inside the powerplay.
Not only were the Indians playing catch-up after losing their top-three cheaply, frequent rain interruptions also affected their chances of building some momentum. KL Rahul (38) and Axar Patel’s (31) handy contributions and all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy’s unbeaten 19 off 11 on ODI debut gave the Indian innings some impetus.
However, a score of 136/9 after 26 overs in a rain-hit fixture was never going to challenge the world champions, especially after their target was revised to 131 using the DLS method.
India and Australia will now square off in the second ODI of the three-match series at the Adelaide Oval on October 23. It will be a must win game for the tourists to stay alive in the series.