The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) entrusted Shubman Gill with captaincy in the two longest formats of the game earlier in the year. The board had already named Gill as vice-captain in the shortest skipper, suggesting that he was earmarked to lead once the Rohit Sharma era ended.
After India lifted the T20 World Cup trophy, Rohit retired. It was expected that Hardik Pandya or Jasprit Bumrah would be named as his replacement. But BCCI chose Suryakumar Yadav. While some were uncertain about having him as captain, SKY has succeeded.
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Since taking over, India has lost just 2 out of 22 matches under him. Despite his excellent record and the 2026 T20 World Cup approaching, India’s former captain Sourav Ganguly has suggested naming Gill as all-format captain. This comes after his success in Test cricket, especially his exploits in England.
“The other day I was sitting at Eden Gardens, and somebody came and told me, ‘Do you think Shubman Gill should be captain of T20I?’ I said, ‘He should be captain of everything because he’s so good.’ And I asked him – three months ago, that fellow was in England, and he looked like gold: batting, captaincy, got a young team to fight, no Kohli, no Rohit Sharma,” Ganguly said on the Captain’s Calm podcast.
While Gill’s performance in T20Is isn’t that great, especially in comparison to Sanju Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal, he has been chosen over them both as the first-choice opener. That suggests him taking over from Suryakumar, once the BCCI decides to move on from him.
“And in three months’ time, you’re asking questions. That’s the mindset of people. And it happens to someone who makes decisions all the time… you have to be patient; you have to allow somebody to become better,” he added.
