From Mumbai Indians to India's national squad: Did Rohit Sharma deserve a better captaincy farewell?

Captaincy isn't always measured by silverware. To be more precise, a very good captain isn't necessarily someone who has the best win percentage because such statistics can often be deceiving. However, when a captain is constantly winning trophies, it is hard not to rate him or her as a top leader.

For Rohit Sharma, it was a story of building his captaincy legacy over a long period of time, much like it was with his batting credentials. For someone who debuted in 2007, it took until 2013 for the Mumbai batter to finally translate his potential as a world class batter. That year proved to be doubly lucky for Rohit whose first-ever captaincy stint in the IPL landed him and Mumbai Indians their first trophy.

Technically, it wasn't till midway through that tournament that Rohit was appointed captain after Ricky Ponting opted out due to poor form and the team's losing run. While 2013 was too early to rate Rohit as a captain, his efforts in the coming seasons saw him cement his status as a genuine limited-overs captain. From 2015 to 2020, Mumbai Indians won the IPL trophy four times, taking their overall tally to a record five titles including a successful title defence only once done before by MS Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings.

However, the India captaincy came much later for Rohit and that's largely because the world's best all-format batter in Virat Kohli was leading India across all formats. Given Kohli's peak as a batter and India's steady progress as a white-ball side, Rohit had to wait. Eventually, the continuous drought in silverware is what eventually put Kohli out and got Rohit in. The result? Two ICC trophies and a runners-up in three years. That runners-up finish in a home ODI World Cup will haunt Rohit forever as it was his chance to match Dhoni's legacy but the 38-year-old can still be proud of his mammoth achievements.

A captain with such an impressive track record arguably got done the hard way in terms of his leadership exits. Australia are often a benchmark when it comes to player and captaincy transitions but what they also do well is regarding clarity in communication. With Mumbai Indians, the decision to elevate Hardik Pandya to captaincy after his shocking unprecedented trade from Gujarat Titans was an incident that happened too fast, leaving little room for Rohit to understand the gravity of things.

For sure, Rohit would have had a hint of things to come but given that his captaincy defined MI's rise to fame as a franchise, it was only fair that he got better treatment when it comes to captaincy handover. The fact that this decision was taken shortly after India's loss in the 2023 ODI final also speaks volumes of how much hasty the decision was. Perhaps, the MI management felt that Rohit's time is over. Maybe, they felt that his Midas touch had waned. MI has been known to be a ruthless franchise but perhaps, they could have made an exception with Rohit.

However, Rohit gave the perfect riposte by leading India to T20 World Cup glory in 2024, a year where Hardik endured an atrocious season as MI captain and player. The all-rounder, though, was one of India's key performers at the T20 World Cup and looked a totally different player in Indian colours. Then, in the 2025 Champions Trophy, Rohit once again led India to glory and in both the ICC title wins, the team was unbeaten throughout. They could have done something immortal if they hadn't lost the 2023 ODI World Cup final as India were unbeaten there too, until the summit clash.

On paper, Rohit's exit as captain for India looks harsher than his MI's stint but logically, the vice-versa seems true. The BCCI and the national selectors alongside head coach Gautam Gambhir probably expected Rohit to make the decision himself after the Champions Trophy glory. After all, he had announced retirement from T20Is after the 2024 World Cup. Rohit, though, announced publicly that he would continue to play and didn't mention anything about leaving captaincy either.

With the next ODI World Cup only in 2027, it is not hard to see why the selectors chose to groom a young captain. However, much like the MI episode, it seems like the communication with Rohit was possibly once again lacking in clarity. In fact, there were retirement rumours looming as well, both for Rohit and Kohli, before the ODI squad announcement for the Australia series. Shubman Gill is arguably the best choice at the moment for ODI captaincy and so is the timing of his appointment but could the matter have been handled better?

In a team sport, it may not be ethically right to give players a farewell game, be it as captain or purely as a player unless they truly merit such generosity. Speaking of Rohit, even if we leave the sentiments of a farewell game or series aside, hadn't he done enough to arguably get a chance to at least make his own announcement?

Or did something else happen behind closed doors? Unfortunately, an anti-climax is what he had in both his major captaincy stints.

Rohit's captaincy legacy will forever be remembered as a fun-filled film that had all the right ingredients of a blockbuster, except for the tragic ending. Nevertheless, it was a blockbuster ride alright.