Rohit Sharma announced as India captain ahead of T20 World Cup 2026 by Jay Shah

Hardik Pandya, Jay Shah and Rohit Sharma

Jay Shah calls Rohit Sharma captain: International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman Jay Shah called Rohit Sharma “humara kaptaan” while speaking at the Reliance Foundation’s United in Triumph event. The Indian batter was sitting in the audience during the event and immediately reacted with a smile, a video of which has gone viral on social media.

Rohit retired from T20Is and Tests, with Suryakumar Yadav taking charge of the shortest format and Shubman Gill being trusted with leadership in the longer formats of the game. The opener remains active in ODI cricket, but the selectors also handed the ODI captaincy to Gill ahead of the Australia tour in October.

Main Toh Captain Hee Bolunga Kyunki… – Jay Shah on Rohit Sharma

Jay Shah showered praise on Rohit Sharma, even though he no longer leads India in any format. Shah said that he would still call Rohit his captain because of his achievements for the team. He reminded everyone that Rohit led India to two major ICC titles.

“Hamaare captain idhar baithe hain. Main toh captain hee bolunga kyunki aap 2 trophy jeet ke laaye isliye. 2023 mein lagataar 10 jeet ke baad, hum dil jeete lekin trophy nahin jeet paaye. February 2024 mein maine Rajkot mein bola tha ki is baar hum dil bhi jeetenge aur cup bhi jeetenge.”

(Our captain is sitting here. I will say captain because he made India win two consecutive trophies. In 2023, we won hearts but not the trophy after ten consecutive victories. I said in Rajkot in February 2024 that we will win both the trophy and hearts.)

India Bounced Back Under Rohit After 2023 World Cup Final Setback

After losing the 2023 World Cup final in Ahmedabad, India bounced back strongly under Rohit Sharma. The team went on to win the next two major ICC white-ball tournaments.

In 2024, India lifted the T20 World Cup by defeating South Africa in the final, ending an 11-year ICC trophy drought. The following year, they added another title by winning the Champions Trophy in Dubai after beating New Zealand. India remained unbeaten in both tournaments.

These achievements placed Rohit among India’s most successful captains, putting him in an elite group alongside Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni to win ICC trophies as skipper.

Rohit is set to return to action in the upcoming ODI series against New Zealand starting January 11 in Vadodara. He enjoyed a strong run in ODIs last year, scoring 650 runs in 14 matches at an average of 50 and a strike rate of 100.46, and finished as the top-ranked ICC ODI batter.

Rohit Sharma Enjoys Strong ODI Record Against New Zealand

Rohit Sharma
Rohit (Image Credits: X)

Rohit prepared for international cricket by playing domestic matches for Mumbai in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy. He played a stunning knock of 155 runs off 94 balls against Sikkim. In the very next match, Rohit failed to score and got out on the first ball against Uttarakhand.

Rohit has a solid record against New Zealand in ODIs. He has played 31 matches against them and scored 1,073 runs in 29 innings, including six half-centuries and two centuries. His highest score of 147 came in 2017 at Green Park Stadium in Kanpur.

In his ODI career so far, he has featured in 279 matches, scored 11,516 runs in 271 innings, including 61 fifties and 33 hundreds, with a career-best score of 264.

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