India, Oct. 8 -- Rohit Sharma did everything possible to be in the right frame of mind ahead of his return to international cricket. He trained like crazy, dropped oodles of weight and aced Team India's fitness test. Yet, ahead of the Australia tour, the BCCI decided to remove him as India's ODI captain and give the honour to Shubman Gill. At 38, to take the title away from Rohit isn't the most encouraging news. This means that Rohit, like the rest of the players, will be judged on his form and performance, and if he cannot keep it up, he will get dropped when the selectors deem him unable to continue.

The move to appoint Gill comes as a bit of a shock. The 26-year-old was always in line to succeed, but accelerating him to captaincy when...