Gambhir, Agarkar outline team India’s succession plan after Rohit, Kohli retirement

The national selection committee choose Shubman Gill as the preferred vice-captain candidate over the likes of Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul.

India’s Captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli with the ICC Mens T20 World Cup 2024 trophy, at Kensington Oval in Barbados recently. | Photo Credit: ANI

Gautam Gambhir understands that going forward, India will eventually have different teams for different formats, but he insists that being consistent with the Test and ODI teams will be the right approach.

“For example, with Virat, Rohit and Ravindra not there, the T20 team will go through a transition with three seriously good, world class players retiring from the format. But in 50 overs and Test cricket, the more consistent we can be, the better we are going to be. The more players in the format, the better it is for the team,” Gambhir said on Monday, as Ajit Agarkar - the chairman of the national selection committee - nodded his head.

And that approach has been evident with the national selection committee elevating Shubman Gill as the vice-captain in the white-ball teams instead of Hardik Pandya.

“Shubman is the guy we feel, he’s a three format player. He seems to show a lot more qualities over the last year or so from the dressing room. That’s why we want to have somebody who can learn from the senior guys - Surya (Suryakumar Yadav) in this instance and Rohit (Sharma), who is still around. We don’t face the same challenges where suddenly we have to look around for a captain in case there are injuries or loss of form somewhere,” Agarkar said, heaping praise on Gill, who led Gujarat Titans in the IPL last season.

“He’s shown some decent leadership qualities and we want to try him to get experience. That’s the thought, there are no guarantees, at this point that’s the thought…”

With the Board choosing Gill as the preferred candidate, where lies the future for Rishabh Pant or KL Rahul - in terms of vice-captaincy?

Agarkar, however, seems clear about his approach. “Rishabh has been out for a long time, and we need to get him back playing. He is a key player, hasn’t played a lot of cricket. We’ve seen what he can do in international cricket, he’s won Test series almost off his own bat. We want him back playing, that’s the first thing. We don’t want to burden somebody again who’s coming back after over a year,” he said.

“KL hasn’t been part of T20 now for a little while. You look at some of the feedback that you get, we’ve got a chance to reset the button a little bit, we have got a bit more time to plan. You want to try and see…”

Back in 2022, following his success with Gujarat Titans, Hardik Pandya was handed over the T20I captaincy by the then national selection committee for a few tournaments as a possible succession plan after Rohit’s exit.

But with Hardik’s frequent injuries and fitness issues, the Board had to reboot and continue with Rohit until the just-concluded T20 World Cup. In fact, Hardik was out of action between November and March, leaving the selectors with no other options but to continue with Rohit as the captain in the T20I series against Afghanistan in January.

But going forward, the Agarkar-led selection panel wants to be clear in its approach. “This time in T20Is, when Hardik got injured, it was a challenge. Since Rohit was still around, it made our life easier as he could come and lead. But we don’t want that situation going forward…” Agarkar said.