'This is a high-demand job; he is young. The sooner he learns the art of captaincy and team management, the better the results will be.'
Spin great Harbhajan Singh said the selectors were right in appointing Shubman Gill as India's ODI captain last year, stating that the youngster is ready for "big challenges".
Gill replaced Rohit Sharma as India's ODI captain last year despite the latter having led India to the ICC Champions Trophy title in March.
However, Harbhajan justified the selectors' decision, saying it was made with the future in mind.
"I think the decision has been taken keeping the future in mind. Sometimes you do feel things have been done quickly. But I think he is ready for this job," Harbhajan told ANI.
"This is a high-demand job; he is young. The sooner he learns the art of captaincy and team management, the better the results will be. That England Test series was one of the finest I have ever seen. Scoring so many runs and leading from the front shows that he has worked harder than anybody else. Whatever I know of Shubman, he is ready for big challenges."
Gill, who lost his first ODI series as a captain in Australia last year, is gearing up for his first ODI series at home as the skipper, in the upcoming three-match series against New Zealand, starting on Sunday, January 11.
While Gill starred with the bat in England last year, piling up 754 runs with four centuries to guide England to a thrilling 2-2 draw in the five-match Test series, he is yet to make an impact both as a batter and a leader in ODIs.
Harbhajan was part of India's T20 World Cup winning team in 2007 and the ODI World Cup winning team in 2011. He gave India's T20 World Cup team selected by chief selector Ajit Agarkar a "10/10" and said that while he feels bad for Gill, he would get his chances soon.
"The team is really good. I had told that Ajit should be given 10/10 for the team. I felt a little bad for Shubman, but he will get more chances soon. All the players are match winners in their own right. Hope we can win back-to-back World Cups because we have that team," he said.
"Gill was bound to make a comeback. I had no doubt that there was any question about Shubman's return. I think Shubman Gill was left out solely because of the T20 format and the combination Team India wanted. Otherwise, I never had any doubt that he would not be in the ODI or Test team. So, he has returned as captain. I hope the team plays well, and this series will also be won by India."
He also hailed Team India's "match-winning" spin trio of Varun Chakravarthy, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav selected for the T20 World Cup.
"Spin is nice for India. Kuldeep, Varun and Axar are all spinners and can win you the match in one spell. Players are still not able to decipher Varun. Kuldeep has that variation. This is a nice combination of spinners, hope they stay injury-free and serve India for a long time," he said.
He also backed skipper Suryakumar Yadav, who has scored just 218 runs in 19 innings last year at an average of 13.62 without a fifty to step up and score big during a crucial T20 World Cup match.
"Suryakumar has not made many runs, but when the World Cup comes, we will need big players to fire. He will shine bright in that big match. Abhishek (Sharma) can win you matches on your own. The form Hardik (Pandya) is in, he is a key player. We also have Arshdeep (Singh) and (Jasprit) Bumrah in pace."
© 2026