India's New Captaincy Puzzle: Can Rohit, Gill, SKY & Pandya Fit Together?

News18

3 days ago

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While on one side, Shubman Gill's triumph of a drawn Test series in England has given India new hope in the post-Virat Kohli era in the longest format, it has also presented the country with another huge captaincy puzzle.
(AP)
Currently, India have three different captains for different formats: Gill for Tests, Rohit Sharma for ODIs and Suryakumar Yadav for T20Is. Reports have started to emerge that Gill is being seen as an heir for both Rohit, 38, and Suryakumar, 34, in white-ball cricket eventually.
(AP)
BCCI are said to favor one captain for all formats to maintain stability and consistency.
(PTI)
But it won't be as easy as it seems. Or at least, the transition would unlikely be as smooth as the Test one, where Rohit retired before the squad for England was named, and when signs were obvious that he wouldn't be picked as captain.
(AFP)
If not Rohit, then Gill is a clear successor, given he is established as an opener in the format. But there will be questions like, 'Why not Shreyas Iyer?', who's arguably the best batter in the side after Rohit and Kohli and has established himself as a shrewd white-ball leader with an IPL title and another final to his name.
(AP)
T20Is are more complicated. Here, Gill, who last played a 20-over match for India in 2024, isn't nearly as cemented. Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma have solidified their spot as openers and Tilak Varma has been excellent at number three. Gill doesn't quite have a place here yet. How can, then, the team give him vice-captaincy and make him Surya's successor?
(PTI)
For that to happen, the team will have to remove Axar Patel from being Surya's deputy. The BCCI and Gill himself will need to compete with captaincy ambitions of Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Samson, among others, who are all in prime age and would feel they are readier and more deserving to be Surya's heir. Such situations generally bring friction.
(PTI)
The question that also needs asking here is, does one-man-all-format-captaincy even work? MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, and Rohit all fulfilled that job but with contrasting results. Dhoni won an ICC title in each format, Kohli was the most successful in Tests but struggled in white-ball while Rohit was the opposite of Kohli.
(@ShubmanGill/X)
In this packed schedule of matches almost every week and ICC tournaments every year, it'll need a monumental effort from Gill or anyone to maintain their performance and perhaps even health as an all-format captain.
(BCCI)