Did Rohit Sharma predict Shubman Gill to take over in ODIs 13 years ago?

Did Rohit Sharma really predict 13 years ago that Shubman Gill would one day replace him as India’s ODI captain? An old 2012 tweet from Rohit has gone viral, where he wrote: “End of an era (45) and the start of a new one (77).”

Since Rohit’s jersey number is 45 and Gill’s is 77, fans are now claiming that the Hitman somehow foresaw this captaincy transition. But how’s that even possible? Back in 2012, Gill was just 13 years old, and Rohit probably had no clue that a young kid from Chandigarh named Shubman Gill even existed.

Now, here’s the real story. In 2012, Rohit had temporarily changed his jersey number from 45 to 77, and that tweet was about the switch. Soon after, he went back to his original number 45. Still, the fact that 77 later became Gill’s number is one wild coincidence.

In a significant transition move, the Indian selectors on Saturday removed Rohit Sharma from ODI captaincy and expectedly handed over the reins to young Shubman Gill, keeping the 2027 World Cup in mind.

Rohit is the only skipper apart from MS Dhoni, who led India to three ICC white ball finals, winning ODI World Cup and Champions Trophy titles. He had a runners-up finish at the T20 World Cup.

As an ODI skipper, he won 42 out of the 56 ODIs that he captained with a winning percentage of 76. The selection panel's move also underlines Gill's transition as an all-format leader.

Rohit, though, features in the 15-member squad for the upcoming Australia Tour along with other stalwart Virat Kohli, as the selection panel chose not to fully sacrifice the experience. The ODIs are scheduled to be played in Sydney, Adelaide, and Melbourne between October 19 and 25 and will be followed by a five-match T20 series.

Chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar confirmed that Rohit has indeed been communicated about the change in captaincy, but kept it open-ended when asked if both he and Kohli will play the 2027 ODI World Cup.

"Yes. I mean, that is the format they are playing at the moment, and we (have) picked them. As far as the 2027 (ODI) World Cup is concerned, I don't think we need to talk about it today, obviously, with the captaincy change that's generally the thought," said Agarkar.

Asked how the now former skipper had taken the decision, the former pacer came up with a terse reply: "I mean that is a conversation between me and Rohit or us (selectors) and Rohit. But like I said, of course, it has been communicated to him."

Agarkar also made it clear that with very few ODIs are being played nowadays, it is impossible to look at three different captains, as it hampers the general planning of the squad.

"Firstly, it's practically impossible to have three different captains for three formats, just in terms of planning," Agarkar said.

The 2027 World Cup is a huge part of this committee's plan, and Gill needs to be given time to settle down into the role.

"Obviously, at some stage, you have got to start looking at where the next World Cup is, it's also a format which is played the least now, so you don't get that many games to actually give the next guy or if there is going to be another guy that much time to prepare himself or plan."

Shubman Gill (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (VC), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal.

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