• Source:JND
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Shubman Gill came up with his first reaction after becoming India's new ODI captain ahead of the three-match ODI series against Australia, which begins in Perth on October 19.

In an interesting turn of events, Rohit was named in the 15-member squad for the series but was replaced by Gill as the new leader. It means that in 2027, during the 50-over World Cup in South Africa, Rohit will no longer be India’s ODI captain, with the BCCI remaining non-committal on his potential selection for the tournament.

But new one-day skipper Shubman Gill appears determined to fulfil Rohit's "ultimate dream," having been entrusted with the massive responsibility by the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee. Speaking on BCCI.tv for the first time since the announcement, Gill said it is a huge honour to lead India in ODIs and that the ultimate goal is to be fully prepared to win the World Cup in South Africa.

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"It is the biggest honour to lead your country in one-day cricket, and to lead a side that has done well...it is immense pride for me, and I hope I will be able to do great. I think we have about 20 ODIs before we play the World Cup, and that is the ultimate goal. So everything that we play and all the players that we play, they will try to play their best, and hopefully we will be ready before we go to South Africa and win the World Cup," Gill said.

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The massive development came on the day when Gill led India to a dominating win over the West Indies by an innings and 140 runs in the first Test at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. India outclassed the Roston Chase-led side well inside three days to go 1-0 up in the two-match series.

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Notably, Rohit has been one of India's most successful ODI captains, having led the team to 42 wins in 56 appearances, resulting in a winning percentage of 75. The run includes India's Champions Trophy haul earlier this year in the UAE and the T20 World Cup triumph in Barbados in June 2024.

Justifying the huge captaincy change decision, the BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar said: "Whether it is now or maybe six months later, those are the calls that I suppose we have put in place to make. Like I said, it is tough with one-day cricket at this point, because if you are going to make that call, you want to try and make it reasonably early and give the other guy enough chance to try and get that confidence of leading (in) another format, so that was the idea."