The Board of Control for Cricket in India issued a fresh clarification on Friday amidst growing buzz about a leadership change in the Indian team. Multiple reports have suggested in recent weeks that Shubman Gill or Shreyas Iyer could replace Rohit Sharma as ODI captain in the near future. The remarks also come mere days after Gill — currently the Test captain — was named vice-captain of the Asia Cup squad. Shreyas Iyer was snubbed by the selectors from the 15-man team announced on Tuesday.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli had declared their retirement from Test cricket in early May — just before the England tour. Sharma had previously withdrawn from T20 Internationals after winning the T20 World Cup in June 2024. He currently remains active in the One Day International format and participated in the Champions Trophy and a recent ODI series.
Gill or Iyer to replace Rohit Sharma?
Multiple reports have suggested in recent weeks that Sharma and Kohli might also retire from ODI cricket after the upcoming Australia series in 2025. Source-based updates also indicate that the selectors are also keen to relieve Sharma of the captaincy burden in the near future. Contradictory rumours have placed both Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer as frontrunner to lead the team.
Sources told NDTV on Thursday that Shreyas Iyer was leading the race to become ODI captain — with a decision possible as early as September (after the Asia Cup in UAE). A subsequent clarification came from BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia who insisted that there was no such plan in the works to replace Sharma at this time.
“That’s news to me. There have been no such discussions,” he told Hindustan Times.
Another BCCI official also told HT that the current Indian Test captain (Gill) was a natural choice for the ODI leadership role.
“He averages 59 in ODI cricket and is already the vice-captain of the team. There is no way someone who has recently been appointed Test captain, found some success and has age on his side should not take over leadership in ODI cricket, when the time comes,” the unnamed source added.
Rohit Sharma to retire in 2027?
Others including former cricketer Mohammad Kaif have also fuelled retirement buzz in recent days — predicting that the 2027 ODI World Cup would be his final outing. The cricket analyst suggested earlier this week that the prolific run of Shubman Gill could soon lead to a takeover as all-format captain.
“In the last three years, Gill has scored 2,000 runs. He is the future captain. He is the Test captain, and in T20Is, he is the vice-captain. Rohit is the ODI captain. He is almost 38 and I believe will retire after the 2027 ODI World Cup. When he steps away, Gill will become the captain,” he predicted in an YouTube video.
Meanwhile former Team India player Karsan Ghavri had claimed last week that the sudden retirement of Rohit Sharma from Test cricket in May 2025 was due to internal politics within the BCCI. He suggested that both Sharma and fellow cricketer Virat Kohli had been “asked to go out” before making the abrupt announcements.