Shubman Gill ascendancy to vice-captaincy for the Champions Trophy followed by Rohit Sharma’s recent words to him all but confirm that the 25-year-old is in line to take over as ODI captain in the near future.
Gill had been going through a rough patch in Tests, but is a completely different player in the ODIs, having scored 1,641 runs from 32 ODIs since 2023. In the first ODI against England in Nagpur, it was clear why the Punjab batter was given the promotion.
Gill batted at No. 3 as Rohit opened with debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal and forged a 94-run partnership with Shreyas Iyer, who batted at No.4 in the absence of injured Virat Kohli.
The Punjab batter then added 108 for the fourth wicket with allrounder Axar Patel to take India closer to a comfortable victory.
However, he missed out on a seventh ODI hundred when he double-tapped Saqib Mahmood’s short ball to Jos Buttler with his score on 87. Thanks to Gill’s measured innings that had 14 boundaries, India were able to recover from 19/2 while chasing a decent target of 249.
“Trying to be positive. There was a little in it for fast bowlers. Idea was to not to go too much on the back foot, play good cricketing shots,” Gill said during the post-match presentation.
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“When a player [Iyer] comes like that, the opposition also goes on the back foot. Good decision on his part, also helped me,” he added about his rebuilding partnership with Iyer (59 off 36 balls).
Gill also revealed the instruction he received from captain Rohit Sharma ahead of the game as the team’s new vice-captain.
“In batting not much has changed, but on the field I want to know what the thinking is and what Rohit bhai thinks and give my inputs. He tells me if you want to tell me anything in the match, do not hesitate,” he explained.
Gill continuing his sublime run to get to his sixth hundred since 2023 was halted due to the Nagpur pitch which acted differently over the course of the game.
“I thought it was a bit double-paced. Spinners varied their pace well, when they bowled slow, it was turning. Had it in mind to look to square of the wicket and not try to hit down the ground,” Gill said about the pitch at the VCA stadium.
India will face England in the second ODI in Cuttack on February 9 and will hope to seal the series before the final ODI in Ahmedabad.
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