Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], October 9 : Former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly extended his wishes to India's new ODI captain, Shubman Gill, saying he is a good player and the Indian team is doing well.
Shubman's first assignment will begin with a three-match ODI series in Australia, starting on October 19, which will see the return of mainstays Rohit and Virat Kohli for the first time since the Champions Trophy final in March.
The former batting stalwart exuded confidence in Gill's capability to lead India in the 50-over format.
"I congratulate him. He led India well in England. He is a good player and will continue to perform well in the future because the Indian team is strong. It is a self-selected team; all players are performing, which is why they got the opportunity," Ganguly told reporters on Thursday.
Gill is now India captain across two formats. After Rohit bid adieu to Test cricket with a short message, Gill was tasked to lead India in the red-ball format. During his maiden Test captaincy challenge in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, Gill walked the talk while leading India from the front and returned home with a 2-2 series draw.
"I got to know a little before that (of ODI captaincy). It obviously is a big responsibility and an even bigger honour. I am extremely excited to lead my country in that format. And yes, the last few months have been very exciting for me. But I am really looking forward to what the future has," Gill said while speaking to reporters on Thursday before the second Test against the West Indies.
"I want to stay as present as possible and do not really want to look back on what I've been able to achieve or what we as a team have been able to achieve. I just want to look forward and win everything we have in the upcoming months," Gill added.
India's ODI squad for Australia tour: Shubman Gill (Captain), 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.