"Will you make Shubman Gill the vice-captain instead of Axar?" - Aakash Chopra on India having 3 captains for 3 formats

Former India player Aakash Chopra has wondered whether Shubman Gill would replace Axar Patel as the Men in Blue's T20I vice-captain if he is included in the side in the shortest format. He opined that India having separate captains for each of the formats is a bit too much.

Gill was appointed India's Test captain before the recently concluded Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. While Rohit Sharma led the ODI side to the title in the 2025 Champions Trophy, Suryakumar Yadav was made the T20I captain when Rohit retired from the format after winning the 2024 T20 World Cup.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra,' the former India opener reckoned that the selectors might be tempted to include Gill in the T20I side and questioned whether he should replace Axar as Suryakumar's deputy in such a scenario.

"Shubman Gill in Test matches, Rohit Sharma in ODIs and Suryakumar Yadav in T20Is, three formats and three captains. Is it right? Will there be any change in that? Will a captain be handed two formats? Will you start introducing Shubman Gill in T20s?" Chopra said (0:01).

"There could be a temptation. There are rumors as well. If that happens, will you make Shubman Gill the vice-captain instead of Axar in T20Is for continuity? This is going to be a slightly tricky one. I feel two captains are enough. Having three captains becomes a bit much," he added.

However, Aakash Chopra noted that Yashasvi Jaiswal also merits a place in India's T20I side if Shubman Gill is included. He wondered whether the selectors would want to make too many changes in the T20I side, considering they have been on a winning run lately.

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"You want a little continuity" - Aakash Chopra on why India shouldn't have separate captains for each format

Shubman Gill captained India in the T20I series against Zimbabwe last year. [P/C: BCCI/X]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra highlighted that a cricket captain plays a huge role and that continuity across formats is preferable.

"A captain has a massive role. There are many team sports where the captain's role is limited. Football, for example, very limited role. It's the manager who manages the game from outside. Cricket is not like that. Cricket is a very intuitive game. You cannot spoon-feed a captain there. In such a scenario, you want a little continuity," he said (4:15).

The cricketer-turned-commentator added that three captains with different thought processes could lead to complications, considering many players represent India in multiple formats.

"Generally, you have a Test captain and a separate white-ball captain. I can still understand two captains. However, three captains for three formats, then it complicates a few things because there will be an overlap somewhere or other in the three formats," Chopra observed.

"If you see, Shubman Gill and KL Rahul are playing Tests and ODIs, and Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj are playing all three formats, and suddenly you realize that there is a lot of overlap. If the players are overlapping and the captain changes every time and goes with a different thought process, it leads to dilution," he added.

To conclude, Aakash Chopra opined that India would continue to have three separate captains for some time. However, he noted that it would be interesting to see what happens going forward.