After India won the Champions Trophy 2025 title by four wickets against New Zealand, legendary opening batsman Virender Sehwag had great words for Rohit Sharma’s captaincy. In the summit match played at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Rohit Sharma’s team first limited New Zealand to 251/7 after Mitchell Santner chose to bat first and then chased down the 252-run goal in 49 overs for a six-wicket win.
Rohit, the fifth captain in the world to win many ICC trophies and the second Indian after MS Dhoni, rose thanks to India’s final victory on Sunday.
Sehwag, speaking on the Cricbuzz show, said that the 37-year-old right-handed batsman carries everyone with him and that is a unique quality impressed by Rohit’s captaincy for India. Rohit’s cool management of bowling resources in the eight-team competition, which India won with a 100 percent victory record, also greatly impressed him.
Though we underplay his captaincy, he became the second (Indian) captain after MS Dhoni to earn several ICC titles run upon these two trophies. The captain communicates very clearly, coaches the team, manages it, and uses his bowlers. He has carefully communicated to his team, which was crucial whether he is first using Harshit Rana before Arshdeep Singh or whether he is replacing Harshit Rana with Varun Chakravarty. That is why Rohit Sharma captains better then.
;He is more concerned with his team, his teammates, than he is with himself. He helps them to feel at ease. He knows that a lack of confidence in any player will affect his play. That is why he never lets anyone in that team become uncomfortable. He carries everybody along with him. This is the requirement a more effective captain and leader would meet. And Rohit Sharma is managing it very well, Sehwag said.
Sehwag is not the first player to laud Rohit’s ability to unite the team. During an interview last year, star wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson lavishly praised Rohit and let slip that the Indian captain discussed with him why he failed to make Team India’s XI for the final of the 2024 T20 World Cup.
