Credit: BCCI
Pacer Khaleel Ahmed wants Team India One-Day International (ODI) captain Rohit Sharma to serve the national team for the next 10 years. Rohit, who has retired from Tests and T20 Internationals (T20I), is highly expected to feature in India’s One-Day International (ODI) squad as captain for the Australia tour in October. This year, Rohit achieved massive success as a skipper after guiding the Men In Blue to the Champions Trophy 2025 title. In the final against New Zealand, he led the team from the front and chipped in with his 76-run knock in his team’s four-wicket win.
Khaleel, who has played international cricket under 38-year-old Rohit Sharma’s captaincy, reminisced an incident when he struggled while playing for India against Bangladesh in 2019. After the tough day on the field, Rohit came to Khaleel and gave him confidence to make a comeback after the setback. “I feel Rohit Sharma should play for the next 10 years for the good of Indian cricket and that's my personal feeling. When in 2019, we were playing a series against Bangladesh in Rajkot, once I didn't have a great day and only got one wicket, so he came to me and spoke to me personally in the dressing room. The team was leaving the stadium and he stayed back to have a one on one with me and told me how I should be. He told me that I am unaware of my own capabilities,” said Khaleel in a chat with RevSportz.
Khaleel Ahmed serving Central Zone in the Duleep Trophy
Currently, Khaleel is serving the Central Zone in the second semi-final of the Duleep Trophy 2025. In the game, he has looked disciplined so far and also bagged two wickets after bowling 12 overs. His victims were star batters Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shreyas Iyer.
This year, Khaleel was also seen in Chennai Super Kings (CSK) colours in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. Playing his maiden game of the season against Mumbai Indians (MI) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, he got the better of Rohit Sharma, who got dismissed on a duck.
