Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah in an announcement on July 7 confirmed Rohit Sharma as captain for Champions Trophy 2025 and World Test Championship (WTC). Shah had earlier said that the seniors – Virat Kohli, Rohit and Ravindra Jadeja -- will be there after they retired from T20Is following the T20 World Cup 2024 triumph.
“I want to congratulate Team India for this historic win. I want to dedicate this triumph to skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, (outgoing) head coach Rahul Dravid and Ravindra Jadeja. This was our third final in the last one year. We lost (to Australia, at the Oval) in June 2023. In November 2023, we scored 10 wins (in the ODI World Cup) and won the hearts of the people, but couldn't win the World Cup (India lost to Australia in the final),” Shah said in a video posted by the BCCI.
Shah recalled he had predicted that India will win the T20 World Cup in Barbados earlier this year.
“I had said in Rajkot (on February 14 this year) that in June 2024 that we will win the hearts of the people, and also the T20 World Cup (in USA and West Indies), and plant the tri-colour (in Barbados).”
Shah hails death overs’ heroics
Shah thanked the contribution of Indian pacers and Suryakumar Yadav for turning the game around in slog overs.
“And our captain did it. In this win, the last five overs (of the South Africa innings) played a big role. For this contribution, I want to thank Suryakumar Yadav (took a spectacular catch to dismiss David Miller at long-off), (Jasprit) Bumrah (bowled a game-changing spell), Arshdeep Singh (bowled an economical penultimate over) and Hardik Pandya (bowler in slog overs including final over). Now, our next target is the WTC final and the Champions Trophy,” said the 35-year-old.
Will India go to Pakistan for Champions Trophy 2025?
Meanwhile, there is still a question mark over whether India will tour Pakistan amidst political tension between the two nations. The clarification is likely to come after ICC’s AGM meeting in Sri Lanka later this month.
MORE ON SPORTS TAK:
