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Cricket PlayersRohit Sharma's highs and lows as Indian ODI captain: Ending India's ICC tournament drought, but letting the big one slip
Rohit Sharma bows out as India's ODI captain, with Shubman Gill stepping into his shoes.
Rohit Sharma was removed as the captain of the Indian ODI team as the current dispensation spearheaded by chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar and head coach Gautam Gambhir moved on from the veteran as the skipper. Shubman Gill has been given over the reins of the ODI team, and Rohit leaves after captaining the side in 56 ODI matches, out of which he won 42 with a 75% win percentage, the second highest amongst ODI captains with at least 50 matches led in the format behind only Clive Lloyd.
Such statistics indicate how impressive Rohit was in captaining an ODI team that became a true powerhouse in the format. Although he is being overlooked, it has little to do with his ability to be a leader and more to do with the need to look to the younger generation for the future of Indian cricket.
With Rohit’s captaincy tenure in the rear-view mirror, here are some of the highs and lows of his captaincy over the years.
The lows of Rohit Sharma's ODI captaincy
Given this is a captain who won three out of every four matches he led his team in, there are no real barren spells to consider for any lows in Rohit’s career. Instead, the biggest regret of his career is one that must be examined. Rohit’s failure to lead his team to the 2023 ODI World Cup trophy win, falling at the final hurdle, will unfortunately always be remembered as the one that got away.
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Some small tactical choices in that final in Ahmedabad will haunt Rohit – should he have bowled Mohammed Shami up front and left Mohammed Siraj for the middle overs when the reverse had proven to be far more successful? There are hypotheticals which will, unfortunately, always remain so.
The highs of Rohit Sharma's ODI captaincy
It is hard to look beyond a trophy: ODI cricket remains the format of the game in which success is best measured with silverware as the yardstick. For India in particular, the prolonged drought of not winning an ICC trophy became a point of near-shame. While Rohit never got his hands on the truly big one, he did end India’s drought with the T20 World Cup.
He then ended India’s ODI trophy drought, leading the team to a perfect ICC Champions Trophy campaign in the UAE earlier this year. Across the 2023 World Cup and the 2025 Champions Trophy, India played 16 matches and won 15, a truly remarkable streak of success under Rohit’s tenure.
Rohit also set plenty of records during his time as captain, including becoming India’s oldest captain at an ODI World Cup. He is also the only captain in ICC tournament history to have an ODI tournament winning percentage of more than 90%.
