Shubman Gill’s first match as India’s ODI captain ended in a seven-wicket defeat to Australia in Perth. It was the first time that Australia had won an ODI match at the Perth Stadium and India’s first defeat in this format this year. The match marked veterans Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli first competitive cricket match since the end of the 2025 IPL in June this year and both failed to make an impact in the rain-curtailed match.
For Gill, it has been a year of new beginnings as he also took over as Test captain after Rohit’s retirement from the format earlier this year. Interestingly, he had lost his first match as captain then as well, with India losing to England by five wickets at Headingley. Gill had also lost his first ever T20I as captain, when they fell to a shock defeat to Zimbabwe by 13 runs in what was their first match after winning the 2024 T20 World Cup, although none of the players who were part of that trophy-winning squad played in that game in Harare. This makes Gill only the second Indian after Virat Kohli to have lost his first match as captain in all three formats.
Kohli’s first Test as captain was against Australia in Adelaide in December 2014 and India lost that game by 48 runs despite him scoring centuries in both innings. India lost to Sri Lanka by 161 runs in Kohli’s first match as ODI captain in July 2013. His first T20I as skipper came in January 2017 and it was a seven-wicket defeat to England.
Gill said that India losing their top three early was something they never recovered from. Rohit was the first to fall, edging Josh Hazlewood’s fourth ball of the fourth over to second slip after having scored eight runs in 14 balls.
Kohli then went after a full ball outside off by Mitchell Starc in the seventh over and was caught quite spectacularly at backward point by Cooper Connolly. He fell for an eight-ball duck. Gill was strangled down the leg side first ball of the ninth over by Nathan Ellis.
