Star batter Rohit Sharma will remain Indian captain till the ICC Champions Trophy this year, said sources in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Also, pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah is being discussed as India’s next captain, added the sources.
According to a report in Dainik Jagran, Rohit told the BCCI during the review meeting that “he will remain the skipper for the next few months until the board chooses the future captain” and that whoever is picked will have his “full support.”
It was also decided that Rohit will remain India’s captain in the ODI format, with a decision on his successor in the format to be taken after the ICC Champions Trophy.
Earlier in July last year, Suryakumar Yadav was named as the new captain of the Indian T20I team after Rohit had retired from the format following the T20 World Cup campaign.
Rohit’s captaincy has been a mix of memorable highs and some extremely disappointing lows. Be it a 10-match winning streak during the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup at home, which concluded with a loss to Australia in the final or India’s redemption with an ICC T20 World Cup title win in 2024 at Barbados, Rohit’s captaincy has given fans plenty of positives. Under him, team also made it to the final of the ICC World Test Championship 2023, where they lost to Australia.
However, since the second half of 2024, luck seems to have deserted the ‘Hitman’ both as a batter and captain. In the 2024/25 Test season which started with the home series against Bangladesh, Rohit scored just 164 runs in eight matches and 15 innings at an average of 10.93 with the best score of 52. During the recently-concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy, he could make just 31 runs in three Tests with best score of 10. His form struggles were such that he opted out of the final Test at Sydney.
As a captain, Rohit touched some embarrassing lows as of late. Just before the Test series against Australia, India lost their first home Test series in 12 years, to New Zealand by 0-3. This was also their first-ever whitewash in a home Test series of three matches or more.
After India won the first Test against Australia at Perth by 295 runs under the captaincy of Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit returned to the side after the birth of his second child. However, on his return, India lost the pink-ball Test at Adelaide, managed to draw the third Test at Brisbane, but lost the Boxing Day and New Year’s Test at Melbourne and Sydney respectively.
In the 2024 calendar year, Rohit lost six Tests, including four matches at home. This led to a decline in Rohit’s Test record as captain, winning 12 and losing nine, while three ended in a draw.
