Former Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin reckons appointing Shubman Gill as the vice-captain for the forthcoming Champions Trophy is a futuristic call. Gill has been appointed as Rohit Sharma’s deputy for the marquee tournament and he is expected to open the innings with the Indian captain.
Gill has scored 2328 runs in 47 ODIs at an impressive average of 58.2 and thus he has performed consistently in the 50-over tournament. Gill also leads Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League and has leadership experience under his belt.
Ravichandran Ashwin said on his YouTube Channel, “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.
Ashwin noted that Gill can lean on Jasprit Bumrah and Virat Kohli to guide him on the right track.
“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,” Ashwin said in the same video.
The former off-spinner stated that KL Rahul would be India’s first-choice wicket-keeper for the Champions Trophy.
“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.”
India will begin their Champions Trophy campaign against Bangladesh in Dubai on February 20.
