India, Oct. 18 -- Like the rest of his colleagues, Shubman Gill hasn't played a One-Day International for more than seven months. India's last 50-over game was on March 9, in the final of the Champions Trophy against New Zealand; Gill was the vice-captain in Rohit Sharma's team, in every sense of the term. Rohit made a fluent 76 on a dicey Dubai surface to mastermind India's four-wicket victory that gave the skipper and his team their second ICC trophy in eight and a half months.

Not Rohit, not even Gill, would have imagined at the time that in India's next ODI, the former would play under the latter. Gill had become the Test captain in May following Rohit's retirement from the five-day format. The 50-over leadership role, by contrast, h...