Rohit Sharma is likely to remain captain for the upcoming Test series against England after India’s brilliant victory at the Champions Trophy 2025. Under Rohit’s leadership, the team won all the matches in the competition to clinch the title with a victory over New Zealand in the final. Following a disastrous outing in the Test series against Australia where he scored just 31 runs in 3 matches, there were questions over Rohit’s future as skipper. However, according to Indian Express, the Champions Trophy win has prolonged Rohit’s career and he now has the backing of BCCI when it comes to captaincy.
“He has shown what he can do. Every stakeholder feels that he is the right candidate to lead the Indian side for the tour of England. Rohit too has expressed his eagerness to keep playing red-ball cricket,” a source told the Indian Express.
Meanwhile, Ricky Ponting said that while Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli‘s experience was the backbone of India’s ICC Champions Trophy 2025 success, they had superlative support from their all-rounders, according to the official website of the ICC.
Ponting stated in ICC Review, “Their all-rounders right through the tournament were outstanding,” as quoted from the official website of ICC.
“(Ravindra) Jadeja, Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya, were all outstanding. I said at the start of the tournament I thought India would be really hard to beat because of their overall balance and because of that mix of youth and experience, and once again, in a final, the captain stands up and gets the job done for his team,” Ponting said.
With three all-rounders starting in their playing XI in all five of their games at the recently concluded Champions Trophy, India flexed an incredible batting depth, while also having an array of options to choose with the ball.
Breaking down their contributions, Ponting said, “They were a very well balanced side anyway, but because they had so many all-rounders…when you’ve got Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, who they used up the order on a number of occasions for that left-handed option, and with Jadeja there as well, they were a very well balanced team.
“The only thing you would probably say, they probably looked a little bit light on fast bowling, but as it turned out, they didn’t need that,” he added.
“That’s where Hardik Pandya’s role becomes really important to be able to bowl with a new ball and get through some overs early to make it a little bit easier for the spinners in the backend of their Powerplay and also through the middle overs where they predominantly bowl and spin pretty much right through the middle of the game,” he noted.
(With IANS inputs)
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