India's "ODI Captain Decided Without Formal Appointment": Big Shreyas Iyer-Shubman Gill Claim Made

Amidst the rumours that Shreyas Iyer is set to be handed the Indian cricket team's ODI captaincy, former batter Aakash Chopra has shared his opinion. He claimed that Shubman Gill has been earmarked to lead India in the format. Gill was named India's Test captain after Rohit Sharma's retirement from the format. The 25-year-old played a massive role in the side's 2-2 draw in England this year, both with the bat and his captaincy. He has also been named India's T20I vice-captain for the upcoming Asia Cup.

Given that Gill was also the ODI vice-captain of the team during India's Champions Trophy title win earlier this year, Chopra believes that the youngster will take over the duties after Rohit Sharma quits the format. He expressed his views in a video on his YouTube channel.

When asked who the next ODI captain for India is, Chopra said, "Good question, because the rumor mill is active. It was said that Shreyas Iyer would become the captain, that he would pip Shubman Gill to the post. Sir, where do you get it? In my opinion, the next (ODI) captain has been decided without a formal appointment. It has been decided that it would be Shubman Gill.

"He is the Test captain. He has been made T20I vice-captain, maybe not out of turn as they had a logic, but Axar Patel hadn't done anything wrong, and no one felt that the spot would automatically go to him, and you could have argued against it as well. If he has been made the T20I vice-captain, he is already the ODI vice-captain. So don't ask the question. Shubman Gill is going to be the next captain."

In the same video, Chopra was asked to compare the captaincies of Iyer and Gill and give his opinion on who is better for the job.

"It's very difficult to say because the job Shreyas has done has been absolutely outstanding. He won KKR the final and took Punjab to the final. I think he could have been the next in line for captaincy, but Shubman Gill's records are not bad either. He took the Gujarat Titans to the playoffs in his second year and drew the Test series in England," the former India batter said.

"He is also someone who leads by example, leading from the front, and who scores runs. A leader doesn't ask you to do what he says. A leader says 'do as I do.' So you set the example, and Shubman Gill does that job. I am not going to choose one. Shreyas Iyer is a phenomenal skipper, but Shubman Gill is not bad either," he added.

Topics mentioned in this article

Cricket India Cricket Team Aakash Chopra Shubman Gill Shreyas Iyer