Less than a year after captaining his first ICC trophy, Rohit Sharma will embark on a quest to lead India in the upcoming global competition – the 2025 Champions Trophy – with a hope to add another major title to his career. In June 2024, Rohit accomplished his dream of winning a World Cup captaincy in an ICC event as India won the T20 World Cup when they faced South Africa on the final day.
India will play their opening match in Group A of the Champions Trophy alongside Pakistan, New Zealand, and Bangladesh on February 20.
While recognizing Rohit’s captaincy, former India cricketer Suresh Raina feels this 37-year-old will be driven to win another ICC title since this could be his last in charge of India.
“Rohit Sharma is an aggressive captain. The way he uses his bowlers- the timing of bringing in Mohammad Shami in tight situations, the way he uses his spinners at times-is really commendable,” Raina told Star Sports.
“Rohit gets runs and his batting flamboyance is being shown in his captaincy. If this is his last ICC trophy as captain and he wins it, he will become the first player apart from Virat Kohli to win four ICC trophies. He has already won the T20 World Cup, and winning the Champions Trophy will be really a great achievement. However, he has to score runs,” he concluded.
Though Rohit has struggled for form with the bat recently in red-ball cricket, he will a chance to gain some confidence ahead of that high-profile event when India take on England in a three-match ODI series that kicks off later this week.
Should Rohit return to a restrained image, compromising aggression, which had a strong say in India’s run at the 2023 ODI World Cup and the 2024 T20 World Cup?
Raina does not think so.
“I think Rohit ought to play aggressively. You saw how he batted in the ODI World Cup: He continued to be aggressive in the final. So I think that approach is going to remain the same. The question on everyone’s lips is, who is the partnership option with him? Shubman (Gill)? Because I remember that whenever they play, there is always that aggression,” he said.
