Jai Shah called Rohit Sharma the captain: International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman Jay Shah, speaking at the Reliance Foundation’s United in Triumph event, called Rohit Sharma “our captain”. The Indian batsman was sitting in the audience during the event and he immediately reacted with a smile, a video of which has gone viral on social media.
Rohit retired from T20Is and Tests, Suryakumar Yadav took charge of the shortest format and Shubman Gill was trusted with leadership in the longer formats of the game. The opening batsman remains active in ODI cricket, but the selectors also handed over the ODI captaincy to Gill before the Australia tour in October.
I will say captain only because… – Jai Shah on Rohit Sharma
Jay Shah heaped praise on Rohit Sharma even though he no longer leads India in any format. Shah said that he would still call Rohit his captain because of his achievements for the team. He reminded everyone that Rohit led India to two major ICC titles.
“Our captain is sitting here. I will call him captain because you have won 2 trophies. It seems after 10 wins in 2023, we won hearts but could not win the trophy. In February 2024, I had said in Rajkot that this time we will win hearts and also win the cup.”
(Our captain is sitting here. I will say captain because he made India win two consecutive trophies. After ten consecutive wins, in 2023 we won hearts but not the trophy. I had said in Rajkot in February 2024 that we will win both the trophy and hearts.)
Jay Shah : “Our captain Rohit Sharma is sitting here. I am still calling you captain because under your leadership we have won two ICC trophies.”
Jay Shah is grateful to Rohit Sharma for ending ICC trophy drought for India pic.twitter.com/7xjVZdjkwQ
– Kusha Sharma (@kushacritic) 8 January 2026
India bounce back under Rohit after defeat in 2023 World Cup final
After losing the 2023 World Cup final in Ahmedabad, India made a strong comeback under the leadership of Rohit Sharma. The team won the next two major ICC white-ball tournaments.
In 2024, India won the T20 World Cup by defeating South Africa in the final, ending an 11-year ICC trophy drought. The following year, they won another title by defeating New Zealand and winning the Champions Trophy in Dubai. India remained unbeaten in both the tournaments.
These achievements have placed Rohit among India’s most successful captains, placing him in an elite group along with Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni to win five ICC trophies as captain.
Rohit is set to return to action in the upcoming ODI series against New Zealand starting from January 11 in Vadodara. He performed strongly in ODIs last year and scored 650 runs in 14 matches at an average of 50 and a strike rate of 100.46 and became the top-ranked batsman in ICC ODIs.
Rohit Sharma’s ODI record against New Zealand is strong
Rohit prepared for international cricket by playing domestic matches for Mumbai in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy. He played a brilliant inning of 155 runs in 94 balls against Sikkim. In the very next match, Rohit failed to score runs and was out on the very first ball against Uttarakhand.
Rohit’s record in ODIs against New Zealand is strong. He has played 31 matches against them and scored 1,073 runs in 29 innings, which included six half-centuries and two centuries. His highest score of 147 runs came in 2017 at Green Park Stadium, Kanpur.
In his ODI career so far, he has appeared in 279 matches, scoring 11,516 runs in 271 innings, including 61 fifties and 33 centuries, with a career best score of 264.
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