Mithali Raj, the former India captain, believes Smriti Mandhana should have been elevated to ODI captaincy “two-three years back,” but it’s still not too late for her to take charge of the 50-overs and Test side. Raj’s comments follow Mandhana expressing keenness to lead if asked.

“I at least thought Smriti would lead the ODI format two-three years back,” Raj told PTI. “But now also, with the vast experience that she has at least the one-day and Test format should be given to her and perhaps the T20 to someone younger.

“I think Shafali [Verma]. Her format is T20Is. And she has led the Under-19 World Cup side [to a title win in 2023]. Why not Shafali? Jemi [Rodrigues] too of course, yes. She has led [Delhi Capitals] in the WPL. But I do believe that whoever they pick, they need to give them some time to settle. Because all of us got time to settle in our role as a leader.”

While being clear India needed to move on from Harmanpreet Kaur, Raj explained her reasoning didn’t solely stem from India crashing out of the group stages for a second straight T20 World Cup.

“Yes, we did not qualify for the semi-finals for the second time in a row but that cannot be the only reason or criteria to come to conclusion that you need to change the leader,” Raj said. “Because I believe that there are few boxes that one need to actually see if the player ticks those boxes.”

According to Raj, Harmapreet’s fitness was letting her down.

“One is, of course, the fitness, I feel is very important,” she said. “Harman in the last two-three years, you see the physio quite often on the ground, every game when she’s playing. There were a few games that she was unavailable. So, you obviously would want your captain to be fit and available for all games. And unfortunately, all of us age, so she’s not the fittest.

“If you see Harman’s form in the three World Cups, the Dubai T20 World Cup [2024], the ODI World Cup [2025], and the recently concluded T20 World Cup [2026], we’ve seen a pattern. She gets those 15-20 runs but it always takes her three to four games to get her 50 in the World Cup.

“And the third factor is that: does she fit into the scheme of things in the next cycle of your one-day World Cup or a T20 World Cup? So, I think whoever is in the position to take this decision has to factor these things.”

Raj also believes the selectors have missed an opportunity to groom leaders even beyond the national set-up. And that stems from the lack of a road map.

“So far, the leadership group, for the longest time, has been these two [Harman and Smriti]. But we’ve never had a third person who we can think that, okay, this person can lead in their absence. And, sadly, that’s where we are at the moment.

“But I would like to also state that I was able to lead for so long as BCCI invested in me, same way like it did in Harman. Shafali Verma led India to the U-19 World Cup title but she was not given leadership role [in the senior team]. Why?

“Ditto for Niki Prasad [led India U-19 to the title in 2025], who should have been made India A skipper. So, I don’t understand the thought process here. We don’t have a road map. We don’t think about two years down the line, where do you see Indian team? We are only thinking series to series. We don’t have a long-term plan.”