Shubman Gill has been named the new ODI captain of the Indian team as well, replacing Rohit Sharma ahead of the Australia tour for 3 ODIs and 5 T20Is. The 26-year-old will helm the Indian ODI team till the 2027 World Cup.
Now Gill has become the Indian captain in Tests and ODIs and is the vice-captain of the T20I team to Suryakumar Yadav. The star batter's ascension to leadership responsibilities has occurred under head coach Gautam Gambhir, but Rahul Dravid recognized his leadership abilities before the rest of the world.
According to former India fast bowler RP Singh, Rahul Dravid expected Shubman Gill to become India's all-format captain as early as 2020-21. In a recent interview with Sony Sports, Singh revealed that Dravid saw Gill's leadership potential long before the young batter became a regular across all formats.
"Before he (Dravid) took over as the head coach, we were having a chat. When we sit, we keep talking about the game. We were talking about who'll become the next big fast bowler, spinner, and all that. After a while, I asked Rahul Bhai, 'Who do you think can become the next captain? We have a lot of captaincy candidates in our team. Who can become the permanent captain?' There were the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, and Hardik Pandya. He said, 'Shubman Gill.' It was like 4 years ago," said Singh during a discussion on Sony Sports.
"I told him, 'Rahul bhai, he is not playing all three formats.' He is like, 'Leave all that; he has got immense potential.' He said, 'One day, he will become unstoppable. He will captain India and serve for a long time,” he added.
Shubman Gill made his India ODI debut in 2019, Test debut in 2020-21, and T20I debut in 2023. Gill was named Test captain after Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retired in the middle of the IPL 2025 season. The Punjab batsman shined in his debut, leading India from the front in a 2-2 tie in the five-Test series against England. Gill let his bat do the talking by scoring over 700 runs in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.
