Ajit Agarkar clarified the reason behind handing Team India’s vice-captaincy to Shubman Gill in white-ball cricket. The young cricketer will be Suryakumar Yadav and Rohit Sharma’s deputy in the upcoming T20i series and one-day internationals in Sri Lanka. Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, and KL Rahul were overlooked for the role.
Shubman Gill recently led India to a 4-1 series win over Zimbabwe in the shortest format. He is also the captain of Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League.
“We don’t want a Hardik Pandya and Rohit Sharma-like situation in the future. Hardik Pandya was injured during the 2023 ODI World Cup and returned to international cricket for the T20 World Cup. Thankfully, we had Rohit Sharma around, and he agreed to lead India in the T20 World Cup. The situation became challenging for us as we were without our regular captain. To avoid this, we made Gill as vice-captain.
“He is a three-format player and still young. We want him to learn about the leadership from senior players like Rohit. For Rishabt Pant, we felt it was important to first bring him back as a player. He was out of cricket for more than a year. We don’t want to burden him,” Ajit Agarkar said.
The chairman of the selection committee also spoke about KL Rahul.
“KL Rahul hasn’t been a part of the T20I team for some time, and Gill has the acumen to succeed as a leader.”
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