Rohit Sharma retains captaincy spot for Champions Trophy

In a major development for the Indian team, star India batter Rohit Sharma has retained his spot as the skipper for India’s ODI side. The development was confirmed when the BCCI announced he will sit in as captain at the press conference scheduled for January 18.

It is worth noting that the squad for the Champions Trophy and England series will be announced on January 18. The three ODIs that India will play against England will be the last that they play before the start of the Champions Trophy 2025. 

Interestingly, Rohit’s future in the Indian team came under the spotlight after he voluntarily sat out of the fifth and the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. However, Rohit later came forward and made it clear that he is not "going anywhere".

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Recently, in a bid to recover his form, Rohit also joined up with the Mumbai squad for training sessions in the lead-up to the start of the second phase of the Ranji Trophy. He would hope that the sessions would get him ready for the upcoming assignments. 

How many captains have done that in the past?: Yuvraj Singh

Rohit’s form has been a major talking point among critics, several experts came forward and criticised Rohit’s form, and how he has been letting the team down. However, former India cricketer Yuvraj Singh came forward and defended Rohit. 

"I always look at the team graph over a five-year period or three years. Gautam has just come into the system, he needs more time. Rohit Sharma has won the T20 World Cup as captain, he was captain when India played the ODI World Cup final. He led MI (Mumbai Indians) to five IPL titles,” Yuvraj Singh was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times. 

 "The guy has stepped down from the last match and given somebody else a chance. How many captains have done that in the past? Please tell me," he added.