Shubman Gill (BCCI Photo)
Gill led India to a home sweep of Afghanistan in June — the Test 1-0, the ODIs 3-0 — and picked up Player of the Series for his own 238 runs. But results since have wobbled: India lost the ODI series in England in July 1-2, and a home series against New Zealand slipped 2-1 the visitors’ way earlier this year. With the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa now on the horizon, every game doubles as a trial.
It’s a scare India could do without, given how central Gill has become to this side. It isn’t. The series puts the spotlight on India’s ODI captain, now leading a dressing room that includes Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli , the very players he once watched from the fringes. It’s a captaincy earned in installments. Gill holds two of India’s three leadership roles — Tests and ODIs — while Shreyas Iyer runs T20Is, a deliberate split-format call. This tour is a chance to settle those questions on home turf.
When he walks out for the toss on Sunday against his West Indies counterpart Shai Hope, it’ll look like a routine bilateral opener.