Robin Uthappa on Shubman Gill's ODI captaincy, says 'Rohit will be 41 by 2027 World Cup'

New Delhi [India], October 6 (ANI): Former Indian cricketer Robin Uthappa has backed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for appointing Shubman Gill as the ODI captain for India's upcoming tour to Australia. Uthappa pointed out that Rohit Sharma's age should be considered for the 2027 ODI World Cup, as the 36-year-old cricketer will be 41 by then.

The BCCI announced the ODI and T20I squads for the upcoming bilateral series against Australia on Saturday, which will commence on October 19. The Men in Blue will play three ODIs and five T20Is during the tour.

Big names like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will be back in action for the first time since the Champions Trophy 2025 final, but what raised eyebrows was that Rohit will not be leading the ODI squad on the Australian tour.

In place of him, right-hand batter Shubman Gill will lead the side, and in-form batter Shreyas Iyer will be his deputy.

"He's gonna be, in all honesty, 41 when that World Cup comes around. Right? So, you gotta keep that in consideration as well. And for all intents and purposes, I think it's done with taking the decision when the stakes are low rather than when the stakes are high, you don't want another situation like what happened in Australia," Robin Uthappa said on his YouTube channel.

Chief Selector Ajit Agarkar sent shockwaves through the cricket world after revealing that he had personally informed Rohit about the management's decision to move him away from captaincy. The captaincy baton was passed down to Gill two years before the 2027 World Cup, as the management wanted him to settle into the role before the showpiece event.

Uthappa believes Hitman is too talented to experience setbacks and hopes he stays fit to avoid uncomfortable situations, such as the Australia tour.

"To happen to Rohit Sharma, he's too good a player for something to happen to him like that again. So, maybe to avoid all those stuffs. Maybe, I don't know... You don't want an uncomfortable situation like that, and if he keeps himself fit, then no questions there. You know Rohit and Virat will be a part of that side," Uthappa said.

Uthappa also believes Sharma's form won't dip drastically, but his reflexes might be affected due to limited cricket and noted that Rohit will mainly play in the IPL, ODIs, and possibly some domestic matches.

"I don't see form kind of dipping that sense, but it's just about reflexes and does that work, and how those things work because right now, they are not playing a lot of cricket as well. The only cricket they'll find themselves playing is perhaps the IPL and One Day cricket, and perhaps maybe some domestic One Day matches if they do come by," he concluded.

Since Sharma first wore the ODI captaincy armband in 2017, Rohit has led India in 56 ODIs, winning a stunning 42, losing just 12, with one ending in a no-result and another in a tie. His win percentage of 75 per cent makes him one of the world's best white-ball leaders statistically.

Under Rohit, India secured the 2018 and 2023 ODI Asia Cup, the runners-up position in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup at home and the ICC Champions Trophy in Dubai this year. While Rohit's first major win as an ODI captain dates back to 2018, when he won the ODI Asia Cup and contributed 317 runs in five innings, including a century and two fifties at an average of 105.66, the real 'Hitman' magic started when he took over the ODI captaincy in early-2022 when Virat Kohli slowly gave away his all-format captaincy, one format at a time.

From February 2022 onwards, when Rohit took on his full-time ODI captain role against the West Indies, Team India won 34 out of 46 matches and lost just 10 under Rohit's leadership. One match ended in a no-result, while another was tied.

In 46 ODIs, Hitman scored 1,963 runs in 45 matches at an average of 47.87 and a strike rate of 116.84, including three centuries and 15 fifties. During this phase, no player who captained in a minimum of 20 ODIs struck at a better strike rate than Rohit.

After being appointed as the ODI captain, Gill has set his sights on the World Cup. With India expected to play around 20 ODIs during the buildup to the marquee event, Gill intends to lift the coveted trophy in South Africa.

India ODI squad: Shubman Gill (c), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal. (ANI)

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