India head coach Gautam Gambhir has expressed his reservations against split captaincy for three international cricket formats, while also acknowledging that it is no longer viable due to packed international calendars and T20 leagues.
The last time India had an all-format captain was in 2024 until Rohit Sharma hung up his boots from T20Is. Even then, he wasn’t actively leading the T20I side in 2023 as his main focus was on the ODI World Cup.
While Rohit remains the ODI skipper at present, Suryakumar Yadav was handed the T20I captaincy last year after former’s retirement from the shortest format.
Earlier this month, Rohit also called time on his Test career, leaving a leadership post void in the national side.
“Ideally, as a coach, if you ask me, it’s much easier to work with one guy — if you have 1 captain for all three formats," Gambhir told CNN-News18.
"I’m saying ideally, but it never happens because you have to realize in today’s day and age, you can’t have a captain captaining for 12 months in a year because you’re playing ten months of international cricket and then you’re playing two months of IPL.
“So, imagine who’s going to be leading India would definitely be leading the franchise. Putting a young guy captaining the side for 12 months in a year is putting a lot of toll on his mental being or on his game as well. So, ideally it’s one, but in today’s day and age, it is always better to have two because obviously that pressure can actually be distributed among two people, and it gets much easier for a player to try and be free when he’s not captaining the side."
Before Rohit, Virat Kohli was leading the Indian team across formats. As Kohli decided to quit T20I captaincy in 2021, the BCCI handed over the white-ball captaincy to Rohit. Kohli then relinquished Test captaincy as well and Rohit took over across the board.
Shubman Gill is the front-runner to become India’s new Test captain. If the reports turn out to be true, it will be the first time India will have three different captains for three formats.
