Rohit Sharma will be 40 in 2027, same as Imran Khan in 1992; selectors shouldn’t have fast-tracked Shubman Gill

Indian cricket isn’t known to snatch the captain’s armband from a player who, in his last outing in India Blues, was Man of the Match in a winning ICC tournament final. The unreasonable immunity that those with World Cup silverware have enjoyed was not extended to Rohit.

Would the snub hurt Rohit, demotivate him and hasten his retirement? Or will he come out roaring, channelise his anger into run-making, and be the Tendulkar of the dressing room? When Rohit comes out to open the Indian innings with his successor Shubman in Australia in little over a week, the world will get the first hint of the answer to the above questions.

Chief selector Ajit Agarkar gave many reasons for the intriguing Rohit-to-Shubman switch. One of them was about the complexity of having three captains for three formats — Shubman (Tests), Rohit (ODIs) and Suryakumar Yadav (T20Is). In that case, there should be just one all-format captain so that life for the selectors, coaches and administrators would be much simpler.

Then there was one about Rohit getting too few international outings since the world doesn’t play too many ODIs, and the former captain had retired from Tests and T20Is. So, was that Rohit’s fault? Isn’t it the BCCI’s responsibility to ensure that India’s ODI specialists get enough match time before the World Cup that really matters? Virat Kohli is in the same boat as Rohit. Will we let the world’s best ODI player rust in London?

Before the second Test against the West Indies, days after he was named the ODI captain, Shubman would talk about the importance of Rohit and Virat for India’s ODI chances.

“There are very few players in the world with such skill, quality and experience. From that perspective, we are definitely looking at them (Rohit and Virat) for 2027,” he said. Rohit would have liked to be “looked at” differently — a gaze that was more respectful of his impressive ODI record, significantly better than his modest Test numbers.

That’s why when Rohit retired from Tests — apparently, he was forced to — there was no outrage. The England series result under Shubman’s leadership would validate the bold call taken by Agarkar & Co. Gautam Gambhir and Shubman ensured the Test transition was wonderfully seamless. The 2-2 series
result in England saw the emergence of new stars and a new India.

Generally, a dressing room with a young captain and a new coach isn’t overwhelmingly welcoming for senior players who have had an unquestionable reign in the same premises. A mix of youth and experience isn’t always a winning combination; in the real world, it can also mean complex situations with multiple power centres. The easy option here was to defang the senior and empower the young captain. But was it the right decision?

Did the selectors, emboldened by the successful shaping of India’s Test future, get carried away? Picking Shubman as Test captain was a bold call, but making him the ODI skipper of a team that had Rohit and Virat has a whiff of bravado. In the haste to ride the “New India” wave, the time-tested ‘Good Old India’ was hastily forgotten. Rohit’s white-ball leadership is a masterclass for any budding captain and a longer apprenticeship for Shubman would have helped him and India.

Since the time he won five IPL titles, Rohit knows what it takes to win limited-overs games. It is a precious gift only a few possess — it was last seen in MS Dhoni. In three successive ICC events — the 50-overs World Cup in 2023, the World T20 in 2024, Champions Trophy in 2025 — India had looked like Australia under Ricky Ponting. Everybody knew their roles in a team with 11 match-winners. It was a unit that respected the conditions and played with a definite plan. They were entertaining to watch; they had it in them to sweep this cricket-crazy nation off its feet.

The unreasonable immunity that those with World Cup silverware have enjoyed was not extended to Rohit. (PTI)

The only way to get the respect of the team, Imran would say, is to perform and set an example. Rohit did exactly that. If India were a crack unit, Rohit was on the frontline. Throughout the 2023 World Cup campaign, he would throw caution to the winds, undertake cricket’s most difficult task — taking on the best opposition bowlers with a new ball in hand as an opener.

He was a sly captain — he took the field with a mind full of ideas but always thought on his feet. Well before the 2024 T20 World Cup in the US and West Indies, at the press conference to announce the team, he said he had a plan. It turned out he was banking on the spinners, and it worked wonderfully well. Rishabh Pant’s elevation up the order, the use of all-rounder Axar Patel’s batting prowess, and the short surprise Bumrah spells in the middle overs were inspired decisions that won India games.

Fans are said to have short memories. So do selectors, it seems. In a long 50-overs World Cup, a team needs a seasoned captain who knows his team inside out. The present Indian team is the one Rohit groomed. He has known Bumrah since the time he joined Mumbai Indians as a teenager. He was the one who gave Kuldeep Yadav the confidence he desperately needed. With India’s key all-rounder, Ravindra Jadeja, he played the 2006 Under-19 World Cup. He also understands the enigmatic Shreyas Iyer the best.

There was no tearing hurry either to make the very talented Shubman the ODI captain. Rohit should have got one more series as a leader. This isn’t a petition for an ageing captain, nor a plea for giving a longer rope on sympathetic grounds. This is an ode to an ODI legend and a white-ball Mike Brearley, who was denied what he had earned. This is also a reminder that Imran might not have been the fittest at 40, but he was the sharpest and wisest and at his inspiring best.

sandeep.dwivedi@expressindia.com