One hardly expected Rohit Sharma to be denied the ODI leadership from the BCCI selectors ahead of their three-match 50-over trip to Australia. The Nagpur-born last featured in the 50-over format during the Champions Trophy 2025, which they clinched by beating New Zealand in the final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. The series will begin on October 19 at the Optus Stadium in Perth.

The 26-year-old, a few months ago, became the Test captain of the Blue Brigade after both Rohit and Virat Kohli decided to retire from the longest format ahead of the five-match series against England in the United Kingdom. The Indian chief selector, Ajit Agarkar, claimed that it would be impossible to continue with three different leaders across formats.

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Following the announcement, an old tweet of Rohit has gone viral on social media platforms. 13 years ago, the former captain had written on X (formerly known as Twitter), “End of an era (45) and the start of a new one (77).” The numbers refer to their jersey numbers- Rohit wears 45 and Gill has 77.

Rohit Sharma’s old cryptic post after Shubman Gill’s captaincy announcement goes viral

Along with Gill’s appointment as the captain of the 50-over side, Shreyas Iyer has been named the vice-captain of the 50-over side. The wicket-keeping duties belong to KL Rahul and Dhruv Jurel, with Sanju Samson being omitted from the squad. On the other hand, Rishabh Pant is injured from the Test series against England in the UK.

End of an era (45) and the start of a new one (77) ..... http://t.co/sJI0UIKm

— Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) September 14, 2012

The leadership change is one of the significant transitions in the Indian cricket team, especially after the successful tenure of Rohit across formats in the captaincy. He won the T20 World Cup 2024 and the Champions Trophy 2025 in a span of nearly nine months. But this decision has given a picture of the selectors looking ahead in the future.

The selectors have not picked both Ravindra Jadeja and Varun Chakravarthy in the squad despite their superb show in the Champions Trophy, while Mohammed Shami has also lost his place in the 50-over set-up, potentially ending his international career in this format of the game.