If the challenge of leading India in Tests wasn’t enough, Shubman Gill has now been tasked with the job of captaining the ODI side too.
In T20Is, he’s India’s vice-captain at present.
In the leadership group of Team India, Gill has a very important role to play. No doubt, the role is challenging and involves the risk of mental fatigue, especially for someone like Gill, who also shoulders a huge responsibility in the team’s batting unit.
It’s obvious that head coach Gautam Gambhir, too, was on the same page with the selectors in terms of handing the ODI captaincy over to Gill from Rohit Sharma, who has retired from both Tests and T20Is. The 26-year-old, though, is undaunted by the arduous task, with winning ICC trophies being his primary goal.
“Physically, most of the time, I feel fine. But sometimes, yes, there is mental fatigue, because when I’m constantly playing, there is obviously a certain expectation that I have from myself, and to be able to keep up with my own expectations sometimes becomes a challenge.
“But I think that’s the challenge, to be able to play all the formats for India. I want to play all formats and succeed in all of them for my country, and win ICC titles. So, if I want to do that, then this is the challenge I have to go through,” Gill said on Thursday, the eve of the second and final Test against the West Indies.
Readying himself for the ODI captaincy after taking the mantle over from Rohit, Gill is excited about what the future holds for him. “The ODI captaincy is obviously a big
responsibility and an even bigger honour, so I’m very excited to lead my country in that format.
“And yes, the last few months have been very exciting for me, and I’m really looking forward to what the future has. At the moment, I want to stay in the present as much as possible and don’t really want to look back on what I’ve been able to achieve or what we, as a team, have achieved.
“I just want to look forward and win everything that we have in the coming months.”
Talking about captain Rohit’s influence on him, Gill said: “There are so many that I have inherited from Rohit the calmness that he possesses… and the kind of friendship that he encourages among the group is something that I aspire to. These are the qualities I want to inherit from him.”
Besides Rohit, the ODI future of Virat Kohli, too, remains in doubt after the ODIs in Australia, which conclude on October 25. Does Gill still see both Rohit and Kohli playing an important role in the lead-up to the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa?
“Absolutely,” Gill replied. “The experience the two of them have is immense, and there are very few players who can match the number of games they have won for India. There are very few players in the world with such skill and quality… we look at it from that perspective.”