From December 2021 to March 2025, India experienced its most successful ODI cricket phase under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy. Filling Virat Kohli‘s shoes wasn’t going to be easy, but he didn’t just match his predecessor; he handily outperformed him in terms of results.
What Rohit Sharma did of India’s ODI cricket
India had made a habit of winning bilateral series under Kohli and MS Dhoni, but that ICC silverware eluded them. In 2023, we saw one of the greatest ODI World Cup runs in history. India won 10 on the trot. Despite losing the final to Australia, it was the first time since 2011 that India even made an ODI World Cup final.
That heartbreak in the 2023 World Cup final didn’t break Rohit or Team India. Instead, they continued their strong performances in ODI cricket into the following years. Their persistence paid off: in March 2025, India went unbeaten to the ICC Champions Trophy final, and this time, they won.
In doing so, Rohit matched what Dhoni had achieved in 2011. In the year prior, Rohit led India to their first ICC title in 13 years, the T20 World Cup. But performance in the other formats was catching up to him. He’d retired from T20Is already and, after a poor run of form in Test cricket, has hung up his boots in the longest format as well.
BCCI shows trust in Shubman Gill
With the 2027 ODI World Cup still more than two years away, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided it can’t give the 50-over captaincy to Rohit, who just plays one format and will be over 40 by the time the ICC tournament arrives.
Shubman Gill, who’s the heir apparent, has expectedly taken over. Named white-ball vice-captain in 2024, he was in line to become the next skipper. Then, in May, after Rohit’s Test retirement, Gill was also named captain in the longest format. His performance in England only reassured selectors to go with him in ODI cricket as well.
Rohit’s tenure was short compared to Kohli and Dhoni. As the BCCI moves on from him, it’s good to remind everyone: no Indian has a better ODI captaincy record than Rohit. A golden era has ended. While Gill’s crowning should be appreciated, one mustn’t forget to marvel at Rohit’s success.
India ODI squad for Australia
Shubman Gill (c), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (vc), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal
