Former India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has raised his voice to support the selectors’ decision to appoint Shubman Gill as the vice-captain for the upcoming ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025.
BCCI announced a power-packed 15-member India squad for the upcoming ICC event which is set to commence next month.
The regular captain Rohit Sharma will be leading the side while Gill will serve as his deputy. On this occasion, Ashwin has come in to back the selector’s decision.
While speaking about Gill he said, “Just think about whom else we can appoint as vice-captain from the current squad.”
“I will not say whether the decision to appoint Gill was right or wrong, but the point that was raised was correct that he was the vice-captain in the last series as well.”
“I could be wrong, but I guess he’s done some vice captaincy in Tests as well. I think this decision is a futuristic call as the management might be thinking about who could be their leader in the future,” he added.
Despite his stellar ODI numbers, Gill’s promotion to vice-captaincy suprised cricketing fraternity considering the presence of the other senior stars in the squad.
Gill has captained India’s T20I side during Zimbabwe tour last year and was the vice-captain for the subsequent ODI and T20I series in Sri Lanka.
Shubman Gill boasts ODI numbers with an average of over 58 and a strike rate of 101.74 in 41 outings. However, he struggled in India’s most recent ODI series in Sri Lanka, averaging only 19 in three innings.
Ashwin also felt that Gill would benefit from the presence of Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah will make him captain in future.
“If Shubman goes on to become a captain in the future, then he can lean on Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah to guide him. Axar Patel has been named as the vice-captain for the upcoming T20I series against England.”
“There’s stiff competition between Axar and Jadeja that which one out of the two will play in the XI,” said Ashwin.
“If we look at Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul, the latter is an incumbency keeper. There could be a possibility that both Pant and Rahul play but they’ve given the vice captaincy to the player whose place in the playing XI is confirmed.”
It will be interesting to see how Gill will make his comeback with a high profile tournament is in line. Before the Champions Trophy 2025, the Men in Blues will play a five match T20I series and three match T20I series in England’s tour of India 2025.
It will serve as a preparation for the side ahead of the ICC event. As per India’s CT 2025 schedule, their first clash will be against Bangladesh on February 20 at Dubai International Stadium.
