“Wanted to have somebody who can also learn from a couple of senior guys”- Ajit Agarkar on Shubman Gill’s appointment as vice-captain

India’s chief selector Ajit Agarkar has opened up on Shubman Gill’s appointment as vice-captain in limited-overs format. While Gill’s appointment came as a surprise for many cricket boffins, the selectors are seeing him as India’s future captain.

Gill recently led India to a 4-1 T20I series win against Zimbabwe. The youngster also led Gujarat Titans in IPL 2024 but the team failed to qualify for the playoffs.

Gill has been backed as a three-format player and Agarkar feels he will be perfect for the deputy role in the white ball formats. In 2023, India had to appoint Suryakumar Yadav as India’s captain for the T20I series against Australia and South Africa when Hardik got injured in Rohit Sharma’s absence.

“This time, in T20Is, when Hardik Pandya did get injured, that was a bit of a challenge because Rohit was also not playing. Thankfully, Rohit was back and he could come in and lead. We don’t want that situation going forward again. Shubman is a guy we feel is a three-format player, firstly. And he seems to show a lot of good qualities over the last year or so. That’s why we wanted to have somebody who can also learn from a couple of senior guys who are there,” said Agarkar in the press conference on Monday.

He added, “Surya is there. Rohit is still around. We don’t face the same challenge again — suddenly try and look for a new captain in case there is an injury or loss of form. That’s the idea again. He has shown some decent leadership qualities. So we want him to get some experience and build going forward. There are no guarantees in life, but at this point, that’s how it looks.”

On the other hand, Rishabh Pant was also one of the options for the vice-captaincy role. However, Agarkar said they don’t want to burden Pant with more responsibility as he is returning after a long hiatus.

“Rishabh has been out for a long time. We need to get him back to playing. That’s the first thing. We don’t want to burden someone who is coming back after a year out of the game. KL Rahul has not been part of T20Is now for a little while. Like I said, if you look at some of the feedback that we have got, we have got a chance to hit the reset button a little bit. We have a bit more time to plan, we want to see for the next two years,” said Agarkar.

India will play the first T20I against Sri Lanka at Pallekele on Saturday.