The leadership of India ODI cricket is set to undergo a massive change, with Shreyas Iyer being in the queue to take over the mantle of being the ODI captain and what with Rohit Sharma vacating his place as the ODI captain, due to injury related reasons. The change of shift to speculative, which is planned after the Asia Cup 2025, is part of the BCCI restrategizing to minimize workload and to create the future generation of leadership.
Next captain of Indian Cricket Team?
His candidacy has in fact picked up momentum against all odds considering that he was not included in the recently announced India squad to go to the Asia Cup. This omission provoked criticism and raised eyebrows among the fans who felt that he was not in line with the increasing talk that he is going to be the next captain.
BCCI insiders have suggested that though Iyer remains the front runner to take the reins of the ODIs till the 2027 World Cup, any official replacement will depend on what Rohit Sharma chooses to do with his career. After the Asia Cup, Rohit, who will be co consulted with the veteran batsman Virat Kohli, plans will be finalized.
New era of split Captaincy in Indian Cricket Team
It is becoming obvious why a split captaincy model is adopted. The lack of selection of Hubble Gill, now captain of the Test team and vice captain in the T20 setup, in the ODI role possibly owing to concerns with regard to workload management and time constraints. Suryakumar Yadav remains the captain of the T20I team and Gill is the vice captain but the role of the captaincy may soon change sometime on Surya too, as the speculations are there. The decision of the BCCI reflects its own desire to move towards a more forward looking style of leadership with care to ensure that commitments are kept in order to maintain a level of performance across formats. The subsequent removal of Rohit as ODI captain either at or after the Australia tour would result in a smooth transfer of authority to Iyer around, or during, the Australia series, potentially positioning him as succeeding Rohit as ODI captain ahead of the 2027 world cup.
In a way, it seems that BCCI is aiming to create a new era in the ODI cricket in India by creating a balance between establishing new leadership combined with long term thinking and preserving the legacy of the former figures.
