Former India cricketer Mohammed Kaif has shared more thoughts on Shubman Gill replacing Rohit Sharma as India’s new ODI captain ahead of the Australia tour. Gill is already the Test captain and T20I vice-captain of the Indian team.

Mohammad Kaif believes the decision to give Gill so much power all at once might have serious consequences, and now that Rohit is no longer captain, his prospects of participating in the 2027 World Cup have decreased exponentially.

Gill is also expected to take over as T20I captain from Suryakumar Yadav following next year's T20 World Cup at home. While everything appears to be going well on the surface, Kaif is convinced that Gill was coerced into accepting the captaincy.

"This was on expected lines, but I felt this would happen after the 2027 World Cup. The guy has quality, and he's also worked on his fitness. He had a realistic chance of playing in the 2027 World Cup. However, the load falls on Gill. He's getting all of it in a hurry. It could also lead to a loss. When you get so much in such a short time, it could backfire," Kaif said in a video posted on his official YouTube channel.

"My point is that don't overburden him. He captains in Tests and bats at No. 4. He was made the vice-captain in the Asia Cup and will take over when Suryakumar Yadav steps aside. Now you've made him the ODI captain. I feel everything is being done in a hurry. A player never asks for captaincy. Everyone knows that he didn't want it. You can't demand it, but everyone seems to like him a lot and considers him a captain for the future. The selectors, including Ajit Agarkar, have pressured him,” he added.

Mohammad Kaif further said that Rohit Sharma had done nothing wrong, having won India the Champions Trophy title in his final outing as captain. He also lamented the fact that Rohit Sharma couldn’t captain India for a long time.

"What wrong has Rohit Sharma done? It's very unfortunate that we didn’t get a long captaincy run from Rohit. Not even 4 years. A great batter and an outstanding leader, as captain, he could have had an even more impressive captaincy record. When you snatch captaincy, I feel that a player loses his right hand," mentioned Kaif.

“Rohit Sharma, the opener and the leader, went hand-in-hand. Rohit doesn't score 100s in each match, but in big matches, he scored 76 in the Champions Trophy final. He will now be judged match by match, series by series. It's an even playing field for everyone. I'm not sure whether he even wants to play now,” Kaif signed off.

Rohit Sharma, along with fellow legend Virat Kohli, will be seen in action for the Indian team in the upcoming three ODI series in Australia starting October 19.