New Delhi [India], October 4 : India's newly appointed ODI captain, Shubman Gill, has set his sights on the 2027 World Cup. He is aiming to ensure the Indian team is ready for the showpiece event and return home from South Africa with the prized title in their possession.
On Saturday, India notched a mammoth win by an innings and 140 runs in the opening Test against the West Indies in Ahmedabad. In the aftermath of India's commanding display, Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar confirmed that he has personally informed veteran Rohit Sharma about the management's decision to pass the captaincy mantle to Gill.
Gill's reign in the 50-over format will begin in Australia with a three-match affair, scheduled to kickstart on October 19 at the Optus Stadium in Perth. With India expected to play around 20 ODIs during the buildup to the marquee event, Gill has set his goals, which culminate in lifting the coveted trophy in South Africa.
"It is the biggest honour to be able to lead your country in the One Day and to be able to lead a side that has done well. It's an immense pride for me. I hope I will be able to do great. I think we have about 20 ODIs before we play the World Cup, and obviously the ultimate goal is the World Cup in South Africa," Gill said in a video posted by the BCCI.
"So everything that we play, all the players that we play, we are going to try our best to be able to have a great season before we get to the World Cup, and hopefully we will be fully ready when we go to South Africa and win that World Cup," he concluded.
Gill has officially assumed the captaincy duties of two formats. After Rohit's expected retirement from Tests before the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy in England, the 26-year-old assumed the role and led the tourists from the front. With a record-breaking run in England, Gill was the highest run getter with 754 runs and remained fundamental in India, concluding the five-match affair on 2-2.
Agarkar explained that the rationale behind Gill's promotion was that the selectors wanted him to have enough time to settle well before the 2027 ODI World Cup, which will be held in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. With Gill at the helm, Rohit will feature solely as a batter.
"Obviously, at some stage, you've got to start looking at where the next World Cup is. It's [ODIs] also a format which is played the least now, so you don't get that many games to actually give the next guy, or if there is going to be another guy, that much time to prepare himself or plan. We are two years away still, might look like a long time, but we don't quite know how many one-day games we might play," Agarkar said at a press conference in Ahmedabad.
"Closer to the World Cup we might end up playing a little bit more than what we have, but the last one-day game we played was what, 8th or 9th March in Champions Trophy, and the next one we play is in October 19, so it is a bit of a challenge with one-day cricket at the moment ... It is very difficult to have three different captains for three formats, in terms of not just selectors but more importantly even for the coach, to plan with three different people is never easy," he added.
India's ODI squad: Shubman Gill (C), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (VC), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal.