Rohit Sharma was removed as India ODI captain despite winning the Champions Trophy.
Former India cricketer Manoj Tiwary believes head coach Gautam Gambhir played a hand in Rohit Sharma's dismissal as India's ODI captain, accusing him of potentially 'influencing' Ajit Agarkar to make the decision.
Tiwary, whose feud with Gambhir is not new, believes the decision-makers humiliated Rohit by taking the position away from him.
Rohit had already retired from T20Is in June 2024 and Tests in May 2024, but he was still going hard in ODIs, intending to be in peak condition for the 2027 World Cup.
However, when India's ODI squad for Australia was released in October, Shubman Gill was chosen as the new captain. Given that Rohit had won the ICC Champions Trophy in his final game as India's captain, the decision caused some controversy.
Although Agarkar is a strong man and makes judgments on his own, Tiwary feels that he could not have made the decision alone and that Gambhir's opinion would have undoubtedly contributed to Rohit's dismissal as captain.
“I don't know what the main cause is. But knowing Ajit Agarkar, he is a personality. He is a decision maker. He will not take a step back in taking such steps. But whether he was influenced by someone to fire the gun from his shoulder is something we need to look at. A lot of things happen behind the scenes, which makes 1+1 2. Maybe the decision was made by the chief selector, and he was very upfront about it. Naturally, the coach’s inputs must be there. You cannot make the decision on your own. Both are equally responsible for whatever decision was made,” Tiwary told Sports Today.
Despite Virat Kohli's presence, Tiwary claims he no longer enjoys watching India's ODI matches because Rohit is no longer captain. Rohit has also changed.
Tiwary says it doesn't make sense for the selectors to doubt Rohit's motivation or leadership abilities, demonstrating his inability to comprehend the reasoning behind his dismissal as ODI captain.
“See, there has been a lot of inconsistency in picking the playing XI, in my opinion. If I have to be brutally honest with you, I have lost interest in watching the ODI games. The things that have panned out of late are when the T20 World Cup-winning captain and the Champions Trophy-winning captain are removed from the captaincy, and the responsibility is given to the new guy, which I felt was not required. I have played with Rohit. We have a connection, so I didn't like how it panned out. I felt it was disrespectful to a cricketer who has given so much to the cricket lovers across the world. From that day, I lost a bit of interest. A lot of controversies, and I feel that is happening because the clarity is not there,” added Tiwary.
“It would have made this decision more sensible, because Rohit is a proven captain. He has won two ICC trophies. We nearly missed out in 2023. I felt Travis Head was lucky; it was his day. If we had won that, Rohit would have ended up with three trophies. I just wonder why you had doubts regarding Rohit playing the 2027 World Cup. That means you doubted his abilities. Why would you do that? When he had scored three double hundreds, there was no question of doubting him. A big player always gets the runs. The mindset with which he played in 2023—he is such a selfless cricketer; he wanted to make a statement. Doubting his ability was a big mistake, and then removing him from captaincy was a big mistake as well. I thought it shouldn't have happened. It cannot be cricketing logic behind his removal as the captain,” Tiwary signed off.
Rohit Sharma is yet to score a big one in this New Zealand ODI series, having scored 26 and 24 runs in the first two matches. The third ODI will be played in Indore on January 18, with the series level at 1-1.
(Sports Today inputs)