The BCCI has announced the squad for the Australia series, where Shubman Gill has been announced as the new ODI captain. However, following his appointment as Test captain a few months ago, this is going to be his first ODI series as an ODI captain. However, the decision to make him the ODI captain was made with the 2027 World Cup in mind, according to the Indian chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar.
Speaking at the press conference, Agarkar explained: “Obviously, at some stage you’ve got to start looking at where the next World Cup is. It’s 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.”
“And we’re two years away still. It might look like a long time, but we don’t quite know how many one-day games we might take. 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 on October 2019. So, it is a bit of a challenge with one-day cricket at the moment,” again said Agarkar.
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“Of course, the focus has been on T20 World Cup. But slowly we’ll start planning for that World Cup to come. So, as a plan, it gives the next guy enough time to plan with whatever games that we have coming. And 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 further added.
However, Shubman Gill faces a tight schedule in the upcoming weeks. He is currently leading India in the two-match Test series against West Indies, which ends on October 14. Meanwhile, the three ODIs against Australia on October 19, 23, and 25, while the five-match T20I series runs from October 29 to November 8 as well.
When he was asked whether this packed schedule risks burnout for Shubman Gill, Ajit Agarkar replied: “Hopefully not. I mean, he’s still quite young. I mean, we saw what he did in England under immense pressure. So, there were really positive signs there. You’ve seen his record in one-day cricket as a batter. We hope there’s no burnout.
“It is true there’s a lot of cricket coming thick and fast over the next few months in particular. I mean, him particularly, but the team management as well. We’ll try and manage it as best as we can. But we also want to, like I said, give the guy enough time to try and prepare going into that next World Cup, which is 24 months away, but may not be that many games. So, we want to give him the best possible chance,” Ajit Agarkar concluded.
