According to a BCCI official present at the Mumbai office, most of the names for the three-match ODI series against England, scheduled to take place in India from February 6, and the Champions Trophy, to be held in Pakistan and Dubai from February 19, had already been agreed upon. However, during the selection committee meeting on Saturday, which lasted for about two and a half hours, the entire discussion revolved around who should be Rohit Sharma’s deputy between Hardik Pandya and Shubman Gill.

According to reports (a report of Dainik Jagran), head coach Gautam Gambhir wanted Hardik Pandya as the vice-captain, while captain Rohit Sharma and chief selector Ajit Agarkar were firm in their decision to appoint Shubman Gill. Additionally, the head coach advocated for Sanju Samson, the only cricketer to score three international centuries in a calendar year in T20, as the wicketkeeper. However, the selectors showed confidence in Rishabh Pant, with KL Rahul also being considered as another wicketkeeper option.

When Rohit Sharma was the captain of all formats of the Indian team, explosive all-rounder Hardik Pandya served as the vice-captain of the ODI and T20 teams. During the ODI World Cup held in India in October-November 2023, Rohit was the captain and Hardik was the vice-captain. However, when Hardik withdrew from the tournament midway due to injury, KL Rahul was appointed as the vice-captain.

In December 2023, Mumbai Indians removed Rohit as their captain and named Hardik Pandya as the new captain of the franchise. Since then, India has played only two ODI series against South Africa and Sri Lanka. Rohit rested for the three-match ODI series in South Africa from December 17 to 21, 2023, while Hardik was unavailable due to injury. In his absence, Rahul captained the team, and Gill was not included in the ODI squad.

Pressure from the Captain and Chief Selector

In the three-match ODI series in Sri Lanka later that year, Shubman Gill was appointed as the vice-captain for both the ODI and T20 series. Rohit returned as the captain for the ODI format. After India won the T20 World Cup under Rohit’s captaincy in the West Indies, there was pressure from the top BCCI officials to hand over the reins to vice-captain Hardik for T20s. However, the combined influence of the chief selector and Rohit led to Suryakumar Yadav being appointed as the T20 captain. Suryakumar will continue to captain India in the T20 series against England.

Indian Team for Champions Trophy and ODI series against England:

Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana (only for England series).