Opening batsman Rohit Sharma was recently named the Indian cricket team’s white-ball captain, putting an end to Virat Kohli’s tenure as skipper which lasted eight years.
Rohit Sharma, who led India to a 3-0 T20I series win over New Zealand, would have ideally taken charge of the Indian team against South Africa in three ODIs, but an unfortunate injury ruled him out of the entire series. This means his stint of permanent captaincy started against West Indies on February 6, 2022, where the hitman went on to score a half-cenutry.
Rohit Sharma’s white-ball credentials are staggering, to say the least, and while he does have a sizeable captaincy experience in the shortest format, he is relatively new as a captain in 50-over cricket.
Rohit Sharma ODI captaincy record
Since captaining the Indian cricket team for the first time on December 10, 2017, against Sri Lanka in Dharamsala, Rohit Sharma has led India in just 13 ODIs. Although he lost his first ODI match as a captain, he has gone on to win nine of his 11 matches as skipper. His only defeats have come against Sri Lanka and New Zealand.
| Matches | Won | Lost | Tied | NR | Win% |
| 13 | 11 | 2 | - | - | 84.61% |
During this time, the Hitman has led India to ODI wins over Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Bangladesh, New Zealand and West Indies. Furthermore, while his win/loss ratio is astonishing, his batting record during this time is even more impressive.
In 13 matches as an ODI captain, Rohit Sharma has scored 621 runs. This includes three half-centuries, one century and one double ton.
| Rohit Sharma ODI captaincy record against teams | |||
| Team | Played | Won | Lost |
| Sri Lanka | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| New Zealand | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Pakistan | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Bangladesh | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Hong Kong | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| West Indies | 3 | 3 | 0 |
Interestingly, it was under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy that India lifted the Asia Cup Trophy in 2018. The tournament comprised Hong Kong, Pakistan and Bangladesh with Rohit especially being at his brutal best against arch-rivals Pakistan, scoring 163 runs in two matches including a century and a half-century.
India went on to beat Bangladesh in the final by three wickets, to mark Rohit Sharma’s first win as captain in a multi-national tournament.
Featured photo: AFP / Punit Paranjpe
