India has announced its squad for the upcoming ODI and T20I series against Australia. While the T20I squad was more or less a predicted one, the shock news came in the ODI squad as Rohit Sharma has been removed as the captain and Shubman Gill has been made the new skipper of the side. Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, when asked if we are to prepare for more bad news regarding Rohit Sharma, predicted "Ha bilkul (Yes it can happen)" "Of course. If you (Rohit Sharma) are non-committal, if you can't say whether you’ll be ready for the next two years, be ready [for more bad news]. Even they are aware that if they only have to play ODI, there are rarely any. For that, they need to practice more and play something like the Vijay Hazare Trophy. This is possibly why they have taken that stance," said Gavaskar on Sports Tak. "We don't know whether Rohit will be ready for the 2027 World Cup. He only plays ODIs now, and if we see the international calendar, the Indian team isn't playing too many ODIs. Bilateral tours mostly include Tests and T20Is. If he only plays 5-7 ODIs in a year, he won't get that kind of practice, which you need for a big tournament like a World Cup. If his place in the team isn't certain, the decision to prepare Shubman Gill was taken," Gavaskar said. Gavaskar also credited Rohit's captaincy, but also mentioned the team needs to move on to the younger skipper. "Personally, he has done a lot – won us the Champions Trophy and the T20 World Cup before that. There's no two ways about his captaincy. But even he (Rohit Sharma) agrees with this decision because if you need to think two years ahead, then a young captain needs to be prepared. And this is the thought process the selection committee went ahead with."
