Rohit Sharma endured a rare lean patch with the bat during India’s shocking home ODI series defeat against New Zealand last week, but his former India teammate Manoj Tiwary believes the 38-year-old should be reinstated as the team’s captain in the format.

India’s loss marked their first home ODI series defeat to New Zealand in over three decades and came under the leadership of Shubman Gill, whose early stint as ODI skipper has been far from smooth. Since taking over, Gill has overseen a 2-1 series loss in Australia in October, followed by the disappointing defeat at home.

India did manage a 2-1 series win over South Africa in December, but Gill missed that assignment due to injury, with KL Rahul stepping in as captain. Questioning the timing of Rohit’s removal from leadership, Tiwary highlighted that the move came just months after Rohit guided India to a Champions Trophy triumph over New Zealand.

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“What was the need to remove Rohit Sharma from the captaincy? I’m pretty sure that if Rohit were leading even today in the ODIs, the result against New Zealand would have been different,” Tiwary said during an interaction with InsideSport. “When he won the Champions Trophy, the team was clearly moving in the right direction.”

When asked if he was advocating replacing Gill with Rohit, Tiwary did not hesitate. “Yes, absolutely. There’s still time to course-correct. This is about the World Cup. It’s not about a bilateral series or a random tournament,” he added.

Tiwary further stressed that Rohit’s leadership experience gives him a clear edge over Gill, especially with a World Cup scheduled next year. “Rohit is not a little better than Shubman, but a lot better at this stage. You might win the World Cup under Shubman, but if Rohit is captain, I believe the chances rise to 85–90 per cent,” he said.

Rohit entered the series as the world’s No. 1 ODI batter after successful outings against Australia and South Africa but managed only 61 runs across three innings. In contrast, Gill scored 135 runs in three innings, including two half-centuries.