Rohit Sharma's final days with team India numbered!! Shubman Gill pips Rishabh Pant to become all-format captain

Former Indian opener and commentator Virender Sehwag has made a bold statement about the BCCI’s decision to appoint Shubman Gill as Team India captain for the upcoming white-ball tour of Zimbabwe next month. India will play five T20Is on the Zimbabwe tour starting July 6.

As the entire troop of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 campaign will be given rest, the BCCI and Indian selectors picked a fresh squad for the Zimbabwe tour, which has several young guns like Riyan Parag, Abhishek Sharma, and Nitish Kumar Reddy.

Virender Sehwag backs Shubman Gill as future India captain after BCCI appoints him for Zimbabwe tour

Gill will be leading the second-string Indian cricket team on their upcoming tour of Zimbabwe, and Sehwag welcomed the call taken by the BCCI and the Indian Selection Committee with a bold claim. The former Indian World Cup winner predicted that Gill would represent India across the format in the future.

The young right-handed batter failed to impress as Gujarat Titans (GT) captain in the IPL 2024; despite this, they have shown faith in him, and the cricket pandit feels this is a great sign that Gill will be taken over from Rohit Sharma whenever the Indian skipper steps down.

Sehwag empathized with Gill for missing out on the T20 World Cup 2024 squad, but he has full confidence that the GT skipper will shine as captain in the upcoming T20I series in Zimbabwe. He also backed Gill as the perfect candidate to replace Rohit as India captain in the future.

Virender Sehwag was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz: “Shubman Gill is for the long haul. He's a player who plays all three formats. He's had a great last year. He was unlucky to miss out on the 2024 T20 World Cup. According to me, it is the right decision to make him the captain. When Rohit Sharma leaves tomorrow, Shubman Gill will be his right replacement for captaincy."

Shubman Gill likely to join Indian Cricket Team directly in Zimbabwe

According to media reports, the Indian cricket team is set to depart for Zimbabwe on July 1. The 15-man squad will assemble in Mumbai as the High-Performance Camp at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) concludes on June 25.

However, the skipper Gill will not join the team in Mumbai, as he is yet to return home after being released from the T20 World Cup 2024 squad. He is expected to link up with the Indian team directly in Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, VVS Laxman, the current head of the NCA, will accompany the young squad as the interim head coach of the Indian cricket team, and his support staff from the NCA will also join him.

On the other hand, the timeline for Sanju Samson, Rinku Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Khaleel Ahmed to join the Men in Blue for the Zimbabwe tour remains uncertain, as they are currently in the West Indies for the T20 World Cup 2024.

They will only travel to Harare after India’s T20 World Cup 2024 campaign ends on June 29.