India's redesigned ODI approach was validated when Rohit Sharma's team won their first major 50-over championship in 12 years. On Sunday, March 9, India won the Champions Trophy 2025 final in Dubai by defeating New Zealand by four wickets. India surpassed two-time champions Australia to become the first side to win the Champions Trophy three times. In addition, Rohit Sharma became just the second Indian skipper to win multiple ICC men's white-ball championships, following MS Dhoni. There was a lot of buzz around the Indian captain retiring from this format as well after the tournament, but Rohit has finally revealed what he wants.
Rohit on ODI retirement
Rohit Sharma announced his retirement from T20Is after the T20 World Cup triumph in 2024. Fans and experts were speculating something similar after this mega tournament but Rohit Sharma ensured that his time in the 50-over format is far from over and he will not be retiring from ODIs.
"One more thing, I am not going to retire from this format," said Rohit Sharma in the post-macth press conference
India skipper Rohit Sharma made history. Rohit became just the second captain of his nation to win two ICC trophies after India's victory. He previously led India to victory in the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup in Barbados. Prior to Rohit, India won ICC trophies under the leadership of MS Dhoni (3), Sourav Ganguly (1), and Kapil Dev (1).
With his outstanding innings of 76 (83), which was filled with three sixes and seven fours, Rohit led the team from the front. With his signature pull shot against Kyle Jamieson, he got off to a huge six on his second delivery. He mentioned that he had reached his first 50-plus score in an ICC tournament final with a half-century off 41 deliveries.
Prior to this, Rohit was the first captain of an international team to guide his team to the final of all four major ICC events: the Champions Trophy 2025, the T20 World Cup 2024, the ODI World Cup 2023, and the World Test Championship 2023. Australia dealt India devastating losses in both the WTC final and the ODI World Cup final. For the first time in their history, the Rohit Sharma-led team has pulled off an incredible comeback to win back-to-back ICC Trophies.