Raina Wants 31-Year-Old Star ‘Who Is Like Dhoni’ To Become India Captain After Rohit | Cricket News

Last Updated:August 30, 2025, 12:25 IST

The 31-year-old star has captained India in 16 T20Is and three ODIs so far.

Suresh Raina picks India’s next captain after Rohit Sharma. (Picture Credit: X/@BCCI and Sportzpics)

Rohit Sharma is the current captain of India’s ODI team, but since his retirement from Test cricket in May 2025, there are question marks over his ODI future as well. In the last couple of months, it has been reported multiple times that Rohit can soon take a call on his future in ODI cricket. Amid uncertainty over Rohit’s ODI future, discussions on his successor in the 50-over format of the game have gained pace.

While many believe Shubman Gill, who is also the captain of India’s Test team, will take charge of the ODI side as well after Rohit, some fans and experts have backed Shreyas Iyer’s candidature. Iyer is the only captain in IPL history to reach the final with three different teams.

But according to former India batter Suresh Raina, Hardik Pandya, who he feels is a player’s captain like MS Dhoni, can contribute a lot as captain, and he wants the 31-year-old all-rounder to become India captain in white-ball cricket.

Hardik has served as India captain in T20Is and ODIs on a temporary basis in the past, but in the last one year, he was ignored for leadership duties.

While speaking to Shubhankar Mishra on his YouTube channel, Raina, when asked about who will become India captain after Rohit Sharma, said, “Shubman Gill. Alag player hai vo.”

When asked if he has to pick between Gill and Shreyas Iyer, Raina said, “Gill any day, but I still feel in white-ball Hardik Pandya will do a lot of miracles as a captain. He should become captain again because he has experience like Kapil paaji (Kapil Dev) in batting, bowling, and fielding. He is a very, very positive guy. Whatever he has done. He is a player’s captain. I feel he has a shade of Mahi bhai (MS Dhoni) in him. The way he interacts, the way he conducts energy in the ground. I like it very much.”

In the IPL, Hardik captains the Mumbai Indians, and he also led the Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022 and 2023. Under Hardik’s leadership, GT won the IPL title in 2022 and finished as runners-up in 2023.

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