‘Big shoes to fill’: ODI captain Gill on following legacy of Rohit, Virat ahead of 1st Perth ODI

PERTH(Australia): Ahead of India’s first ODI against Australia at Perth, India’s newly appointed ODI captain Shubman Gill admitted that he has “big shoes to fill” in terms of leadership and legacy after Rohit Sharma’s well-acclaimed tenure as a 50-over skipper and spoke on the culture of security that he wants to build within the team.

The first ODI of the three-match series will start on Sunday at Perth’s Optus Stadium, with Shubman leading two veterans, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, among other star players in the team. Rohit and Virat, who are making their return to the team following the ICC Champions Trophy title win under the ‘Hitman’, will be playing under the youngster’s captaincy and helping him to the best of their abilities tactically and in his overall evolution as a captain.

This ODI captaincy comes to him after commendable performances as a leader across the other two formats. In T20Is, he had a solid playoff season with the Gujarat Titans (GT) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) this year, as well as a 4-1 series win over Zimbabwe in T20Is last year, away from home. This year, he was given the heavy task of leading a new-look Team India on their tour to England, without retired Test stalwarts Rohit, Virat and Ravichandran Ashwin. Gill’s team secured a well-fought 2-2 draw and followed it with a series win by 2-0 against the West Indies at home.

Speaking during a video by the BCCI, Gill said about filling the shoes of Rohit and Virat in the leadership aspect, “Very big shoes to fill. The legacy that these legends have left for us. They were an inspiration to my generation and generations to come. I think it would be hard to fill up that legacy. The kind of learning and experience that they have left for us is something we can always learn from. The kind of culture Rohit and Virat bhai wanted for the team, the kind of culture that would blossom going forward, is what I have discussed with both of them. It is a very fortunate place for me to be in, where I am one message away, leaning on one of them in case I have any doubts.”

Gill is excited for the Aussie challenge, saying that he made his Test debut in Australia and ODI debut in New Zealand, two nations not so far away from each other and very challenging.

On the atmosphere he wants to create within the team, Gill said, “The kind of atmosphere that I would like to create in the team would be to make players secure in themselves, what they offer. It would be challenging going forward with so many good players coming in the team, with so much talent we have.”

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