Former Indian cricketer Manoj Tiwary has called for Rohit Sharma’s reappointment as captain of the Indian ODI team. The suggestion came after the Men in Blue recently suffered their first home defeat in an ODI series against New Zealand under the leadership of Shubman Gill.
Shubman replaced Rohit as India’s ODI captain in October last year but lost both ODI series played so far as captain.
Gill made his debut as ODI captain in Australia, where India lost the three-match series 1-2. He missed the home series against South Africa in November-December 2025 due to a neck injury, with India emerging victorious by a 2-1 margin.
The 26-year-old again led the team in the three-match ODI series against New Zealand at home last week. While India started the series with a win in Vadodara, they lost the next two matches in Rajkot and Indore to concede the series 1-2.
India’s defeat against the second Kiwi team led to a lot of criticism of Shubman Gill. And during a recent interview with InsideSportTiwary gave the nod to sack Gill from his position as ODI captain.
“Yes, absolutely. That’s what I’m suggesting because there’s still time to correct course. This is about the World Cup. It’s not just a bilateral series or a random tournament that we’re going to play.” Tiwary said.
Tiwary questioned the selectors’ decision to drop Rohit from the ODI captaincy despite the latter leading India to the Champions Trophy triumph last year.
According to Tiwary, India would not have suffered a defeat against the Black Caps if Rohit was in charge.
“What was the need to remove Rohit Sharma from the captaincy? I am quite sure that if Rohit was leading even today in the ODIs, it would have been a completely different result (New Zealand series). Because when they won the Champions Trophy, I think the team was moving in the right direction.” Tiwary stated.
“Rohit is not a little better than Shubman, but he is much better currently. That is why he is such a successful captain. You can win (the World Cup) with Shubman’s captaincy, but I suggest comparing the captaincy of both of them. If Rohit becomes the captain, what is the percentage chance of winning? And if Shubman leads, what is the percentage chance of winning? I think everyone will say that if Rohit is the captain, then there is 85% of 90% of chances of winning the World Cup”, He further commented.
