Rahul Dravid had backed Shubman Gill to become India's all-format captain four years ago.
Indian cricket entered a new era on Saturday, October 4, 2025, as Shubman Gill replaced Rohit Sharma as captain of India's ODI team.
The 26 year old's elevation marks a generational transition, with the selectors signalling their intent to build towards the next ODI World Cup under Gill's leadership.
Gill, already India's Test captain and vice-captain in T20Is under Suryakumar Yadav, has been steadily groomed for the role. His elevation across formats comes under the watch of Coach Gautam Gambhir, but it was Rahul Dravid who first spotted Gill's leadership potential long before the rest of the cricketing world took notice.
According to former fast bowler R P Singh, Dravid had backed Gill to become India's all-format captain as early as 2020-2021.
Speaking to Sony Sports, Singh revealed that Dravid saw something special in the young batter even before he became a regular in all formats.
'Before he (Dravid) took over as the head coach, we were having a chat. When we sit, we keep talking about the game. We were talking about who'll become the next big fast bowler, spinner and all that.
'After a while, I asked Rahul bhai, 'Who do you think can become the next captain? We have a lot of captaincy candidates in our team. Who can become the permanent captain?
'There were the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya. He said "Shubman Gill". It was like 4 years ago,' Singh, who is now part of the Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel, recalled.
Gill will take charge in his maiden ODI game as captain when India face Australia in Perth on October 19.
Before that, he will lead the team in the second and final Test against the West Indies at the Arun Jaitly stadium in Delhi, starting October 10, continuing India's new era under a leader once predicted to 'serve for a long time'.