The T20 World Cup-winning Indian captain will continue to lead the ODI and Test teams next year, the BCCI said.
Indian Rohit Sharma, who finished his international T20 career with a triumph at the ICC T20 World Cup, will lead the team at the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, the country’s cricket board has confirmed.
Rohit will continue to captain India’s Test and One-Day International (ODI) teams after leading India to the T20 Title and ending the cricket-mad nation’s 13-year drought for an ICC Men’s World Cup trophy, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed on Sunday.
BCCI secretary Jay Shah said Rohit will lead the team in the 2025 World Test Championship (WTC) final and Champions Trophy.
“After this win, the next step will be the WTC 2025 Finals and the Champions Trophy,” Shah said in a video message. “I am very confident that we will win both tournaments under Rohit Sharma’s leadership.”
Rohit, 37, Virat Kohli, 35, and Ravindra Jadeja, 35, announced their exit from T20 after the win against South Africa in the final in Barbados on June 29.
It was also coach Rahul Dravid’s last match.
Shah was full of praise for the trio of veteran players, as well as Dravid.
“This was our third final in the last year,” Shah said, referring to the ODI World Cup and the World Test Championship.
The ODI Champions Trophy is scheduled to be held in February and March 2025 in Pakistan, India’s western neighbour and arch-rival in the sport.
The highlight match between Pakistan and India is scheduled for March 1st in the eastern city of Lahore, located 24 km (15 miles) from the border with India, according to Al Jazeera’s sources at the Pakistan Cricket Board.
For many years, the Indian government banned the national cricket team from visiting Pakistan due to ongoing political tensions between the two neighbours.
The BCCI has previously said that a decision regarding travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy would be guided by the advice of the Indian government.
India last played in Pakistan in 2008, losing the Asia Cup final by 100 runs to Sri Lanka in Karachi.
Pakistan, however, travelled to India in late 2023 for the 50-over World Cup after its government gave the green light to the tour, opening the slim possibility of India doing the same for the 2025 Champions Trophy.
The WTC cycle will end in June 2025 with the final at Lord’s in London.
India have twice finished runners-up in the Test Championship, losing the final to Australia last year.
Under Rohit’s leadership, India also lost the ODI World Cup final against Australia at home in 2023.
He took charge of the white-ball team in 2021 and became the all-format leader a year later.
