India’s ODI year in review : Off Champions Trophy win, Rohit stepping down and more.

A year that has grabbed headlines. A year that has certainly been topsy turvy. But a year that, most importantly, has the ICC trophy in it. When Gautam Gambhir took over as the head coach last year, things have not gone to plan in red ball cricket. But as the format has switched, so have the fortunes. 

India started the year with a thumping 3-0 win over England earlier in the year with a dominating performance in all departments. Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer in particular were instrumental in scripting those wins. The bowling too, without Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj was effective as Mohammad Shami, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh and the spinners in Jadeja, Sundar and Kuldeep ran though a wobbly England batting line up.

That series win was followed by a flawless champions trophy campaign as India added another ICC trophy to their cabinet. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were instrumental yet again in the knockouts as India regained the trophy for the second time, that too unbeaten. But the stand out player was Varun Chakravarthy, who was absolutely unplayable with his variations and was supported by Kuldeep Yadav. Shami, Harshit Rana and Hardik Pandya all came to the party as India waved the Tri colour in Dubai once again.

Then the wait. After an entertaining test series in England and a thrilling Asia cup, Odi services resumed in October as RO-KO  returned to action. India lost the ODI series, but fans cared less as they saw their idols take centre stage. Rohit ended the series as man of the series, scoring a hundred in the final. Kohli meanwhile, scored a nicely stroke filled 75. 

Then the series against the proteas. It was Kohli’ s turn to score 2 hundreds and an absolutely riveting 65 in the third game. Rohit set it up with 2 fifties in 3 games, but more importantly it was the likes of Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana who showed the world what the future of fast bowling holds.

Come 2026, India have a handful of Odi series left, and to see the RO-KO duo again will be on everyone’s wish list. Another ICC trophy beckons as the world T20’arrives, but this ODI team looks neat, solid and settled before the dynamic duo take the flight to South Africa for 2027.