5 Players who can replace Rohit Sharma as India's limited-over captain

India under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma enjoyed a brilliant run in the recently concluded ODI World Cup 2023 except for one big heartbreaking defeat against Australia in the final of the tournament. The men in blue registered 10 successive wins in the 10 matches, they played including the league stage and the first semi-final against New Zealand.

Considering the age factor Rohit, the Indian Cricket Board and selectors might give it think about Rohit Sharma’s future in white-ball cricket. It could also come up with a decision or solution that Rohit might think to continue ahead as a player for the team stepping down from the captaincy duties.

With said that, here we’ll have a look at the 5 players who can potentially replace Rohit Sharma as a skipper in the white-ball cricket, including ODIs and T20Is.

Hardik Pandya

Star all-rounder and Rohit Sharma’s former Mumbai Indians teammate, Hardik Pandya has led Team India on a couple of occasions as a stand-in skipper in the absence of regular skipper Sharma. Pandya has captained India in 3 ODIs, in which he won two matches and lost 1 game as skipper. Apart from this, the 30-year-old has also led the men in blue in 16 T20Is, in which he won 10 games and ended up as the losing skipper in 5 games with one match ending without a result. So, Hardik Pandya could be an ideal candidate to replace Rohit Sharma as India’s white-ball skipper.

KL Rahul

The star Karnataka wicketkeeper-batter KL Rahul has immense experience of more than 7 years in white-ball cricket, having experience of captaincy as well in a few games. Team India has played 9 ODIs under KL Rahul’s captaincy, in which they won 6 games and lost 3, which shows a success rate of 66.67% to his name. Considering his vast experience of captaining LSG in the Indian Premier League, the 31-year-old might be a good fit for the full-time white-ball captaincy of India.

Shreyas Iyer

The KKR skipper in the Indian Premier League, Shreyas Iyer has good leadership experience in the shortest format of the game; apart from that, he can also make a good captain in the ODI format. However, Iyer hasn’t led India at the highest level of the game but still, he can be considered among the potential captaincy replacements for the current skipper Rohit Sharma.

Jasprit Bumrah

The star Indian pace spearhead, Jasprit Bumrah is one of the vital cogs in the wheel for the team whenever it’s about major international tournaments or important assignments. Speaking of his small but notable captaincy stint for India, Bumrah has led the men in blue in a Test match and two T20Is, in which he has a 100% win record in T20Is whereas he lost that one Test against England. Considering his leadership abilities in white-ball, Bumrah might be another pace bowler to lead India in white-ball cricket after the former legendary skipper Kapil Dev.

Ruturaj Gaikwad

If the Indian Cricket Board comes up with an idea of split captaincy in the ODI and T20I format, they might count on the young batter Ruturaj Gaikwad to lead India in the quickest format (T20I) of the game. Notably, Gaikwad led young Team India to win the gold medal in the Asian Games 2023 last month in Hangzhou. Ruturaj Gaikwad seems to be a good option to fit in the Indian Cricket Board’s plans of investing in youth for the T20 World Cup 2023.