Shubman Gill will lead the Indian ODI team in Australia later this month.
Gill was named India’s Test captain after Rohit Sharma’s Test retirement in May this year. With India set to tour Australia for a white-ball series later this month, the 26-year-old has been handed the ODI leadership reins as well, with the 2027 World Cup in sight. Moreover, he currently serves as Suryakumar Yadav’s deputy in the T20I format.
While Gill acknowledged the challenge of captaining in different formats, he is determined to succeed and win ICC titles.
“I want to stay in the present as much as possible. Physically, most of the time, I feel fine, but sometimes, yes, there is mental fatigue,” Gill was quoted as saying by TOI.
“When you’re constantly playing, there is obviously a certain expectation I have from myself. To be able to keep up with my own expectations sometimes becomes the challenge.”
“I think that’s the challenge, to be able to play different formats. I want to succeed in all formats and win ICC titles. If I want to do that, this (playing across formats) is the challenge I have to go through. In Tests, the challenge is to stay on top for five days. In T20Is, you can make a really good start and maintain that,” he added.
Gill also opened up on his positive working relationship with head coach Gautam Gambhir, focusing on player security and developing a fast-bowling pool.
“Our relationship is really good. It’s very simple. We always try to have conversations around how we can make the players feel more secure and what kind of combinations we can play. We look to have 15 or 18-member squads (from) which we are picking constantly. Also, we talk about preparing a pool of good fast bowlers,” he remarked.
Having retired from T20Is and Tests, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are only committed to play ODI cricket for India. While the ageing duo has been picked for the upcoming Australia tour as specialist batters, there is no clarity over their participation in the 2027 World Cup.
Commenting on Rohit and Kohli’s availability for the quadrennial event in South Africa, Gill said: “The experience that the two bring and the matches they’ve won for India, there are few players with such skill, quality and experience. There are so many qualities I want to inherit from Rohit bhai. One is the calmness that he possesses and the kind of friendships he has created among the group. That is something I aspire (to).”
(With TOI Inputs)