Jay Shah should’ve stopped BCCI from removing Rohit Sharma as ODI captain: Manoj Tiwary

Former Indian batter turned politician Manoj Tiwary has expressed his disappointment over Rohit Sharma losing his ODI captaincy to Shubman Gill. Notably, Rohit was removed as an ODI captain after leading the side to an ICC title in the Champions Trophy 2025 campaign.

Speaking exclusively to SportsTak, Tiwary asserted that he would have liked the top brass of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), including Jay Shah, to have intervened and stopped Rohit Sharma from losing his captaincy in the 50-over format, adding that he was the players' and the country’s captain.

“Rohit Sharma was players’ captain. He won the Champions Trophy. It shows on the TV screen, the way the youngsters interact with him. He is the captain of the team. He is the country’s captain,” Tiwary told India Today’s sister channel, Sports Tak.

“He should have been captain. I told at that time also, the BCCI top brass at that time, Jay Shah, I think he went to the ICC. But, yes, the decision-makers, they should have intervened and allowed this decision to not have happened,” he added.

Furthermore, Tiwary noted that under Rohit Sharma, India’s chances of winning the World Cup would have been higher. However, he backed Shubman Gill to do well as a captain in the ICC ODI World Cup 2027 in South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe.

“If luck favours Shubman Gill, we can win. There’s no doubt about that. But, I always look at the percentage of chance as to which captain has the chance of winning us the World Cup more. With Shubman, consider it’s 60 percent, but under Rohit’s captaincy, it’s 85 percent guaranteed that he can win it,” Tiwary noted.

After being removed as an ODI captain, Rohit went on to win the player of the series award in the three-match ODI series against Australia Down Under.

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