2027 World Cup looks distant for Rohit Sharma as he loses ODI captaincy

It must have been a tough pill to swallow for Rohit Sharma as he was unseated as the ODI captain of India on Saturday – not an unexpected decision in the current climate of Indian cricket. The appointment of Shubman Gill as leader for the three-match series in Australia later this month is but another step towards easing him as an all-format leader in due course.

 The three ODIs in Perth, Adelaide and Sydney on 19^th, 23^rd and 25th October have become soldout affairs – with the air of anticipation sky high there for what could be the last chance to watch the ‘Big Two’ of Indian cricket in the international arena. While the fans’ prayers have been answered with both of them being named in the 15-member squad, the removal of ‘Hitman’ as the skipper is a clear signal that they are not in Gautam Gambhir’s scheme of things for the 2027 ICC World Cup.

 Like in most tough decisions by the BCCI, the announcement has evoked mixed responses in the social media and the players’ fraternity. The white ball record under Rohit’s captaincy for the last two years had been exceptional as it shows that in last three major ICC tournaments under him, India have just lost one game – the 2023 ICC World Cup final to Australia – while they have won two titles with the 2024 World T20 and ICC Champions Trophy earlier this year.

Taking to his social media handle, Dinesh Karthik – a former teammate of Rohit and now TV pundit – has harped on the theme of his legacy and how ‘all good things must come to an end.’ The argument to look for a new captain so that the grooming period for the 2027 showpiece can start as the right earnest looks a credible one, but one can’t help but feel the entire episode could have been handled better. An engineered statement from Rohit ahead of the squad selection, relinquishing the only captaincy that he was left with, could have been more of a civil affair.

 What was the rationale of the selection committee behind removal of Rohit as captain? Speaking at a press conference in Ahmedabad, chief selector Ajit Agarkar made it clear that it was impractical for three different captains in as many formats.  Suryakumar Yadav, meanwhile, will continue to lead in the T20Is in the three matches which follow the ODIs in Australia.

 ‘’A couple of things, really. Firstly, it’s practically impossible to have three different captains for three formats, just in terms of planning. Obviously, at some stage, you have to start looking at where the next World Cup will be; it’s also a format that 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,’’ he added.

 The inevitable question of whether Rohit and Virat would be considered for the 2027 ODI showpiece came up and Agarkar was evasive – but the drift after Saturday’s call is now clear. It won’t be a surprise if the match on 25 October in Sydney is going to be a curtain call for Rohit, who would turn 40 by the time of the next 50-overs World Cup.

 ODI squad: Shubman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (VC), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal.

T20I squad: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill (VC), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar.