Shubman Gill replaced Rohit Sharma as India’s ODI captain ahead of the Australia series to shape the 2027 World Cup squad. A 13-year-old Rohit tweet resurfaced, seemingly predicting the change with jersey numbers 45 and 77.
The veteran Indian batter Rohit Sharma’s captaincy era officially came to an end after he was replaced by Shubman Gill as an ODI skipper ahead of the three-match series against Australia, starting on October 19. The BCCI senior men’s team chief selector, Ajit Agarkar, announced the 15-member ODI squad for the white-ball tour of Australia, with Gill being named as skipper.
Rohit Sharma retired from T20Is after leading Team India to the T20 World Cup triumph last year, ending the Men in Blue’s 13-year drought of an ICC title. In May this year, the veteran Indian batter called it quits from his Test career after he was removed from captaincy duties ahead of the England tour. With the retirements from T20Is and Tests, the ODIs remain the only format Rohit Sharma will feature in.
Though Rohit Sharma made his return to international cricket after six months, after being picked for the ODI series against Australia, the 38-year-old would not be leading the side as the captaincy baton has been passed on to Shubman Gill.
Did Rohit Sharma Predict Captaincy Change?
As Rohit Sharma passed on the ODI captaincy mantle to Shubman Gill, a 13-year-old tweet of the veteran Indian batter has surfaced on social media, wherein he seemingly predicted that his ODI captaincy would eventually come to an end.
On September 14, 2012, Rohit Sharma took to his X handle (formerly Twitter) and wrote, ‘End of an era (45) and the start of a new one (77)’
This is a coincidental tweet by Rohit Sharma back in 2012, as the veteran Indian batter has always donned the No.45 jersey, while Shubman Gill, who made his international debut in 2019, happened to pick ‘77’, marking a quirky coincidence as Sharma’s ‘45’ and Gill’s ‘77’ now represent the actual Test and ODI captaincy transition.
Shubman Gill took over the captaincy baton in Tests from Rohit Sharma ahead of the England tour, continuing the leadership transition as he now leads India in both ODIs and Tests, symbolizing a new era in Indian cricket.
Why was Rohit Sharma replaced by Shubman Gill as ODI captain?
The change in ODI captaincy ahead of the Australia tour came as a surprise, despite the reports suggesting that the selectors were planning to hand over leadership duties to Shubman Gill, who had served as Rohit Sharma’s deputy in the ODI series against England and the 2025 Champions Trophy.
Speaking at the press conference after announcing the squad in Ahmedabad, BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar highlighted the impracticability of having three captains for different formats and wanted to give time and opportunities to Shubman Gill to build the team in the build-up to the 2027 World Cup.
“It’s practically impossible to have three captains across formats. With the next World Cup in 2027, we felt it was the right time to have a new captain. There aren’t too many ODIs in the next couple of years, and the new captain needs time and opportunities to build his team,” Agarkar told reporters.
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Rohit Sharma has been quite a success as a captain in white-ball cricket, leading the Men in Blue to the T20 World Cup triumph last year, after which he retired from the format at the international level, and the Champions Trophy win this year. In the ODI format, Rohit led Team India to 42 wins in 56 matches and has a win percentage of 75.