'Hats Off': Congress' Shama Mohamed lauds Rohit Sharma after labelling him ‘fat for a sportsman’

IND vs NZ Champions Trophy 2025 Final: Shama Mohamed who had termed Rohit Sharma “most unimpressive Captain India has ever had” and body shamed him, was quick to laud the Indian skipper for his phenomenal performance at the Champions Trophy 2025 Final on Sunday.

Shama Mohamed posted on X (formerly Twitter), “Congratulations to #TeamIndia for their stupendous performance in winning the ChampionsTrophy2025!”

Taking a U-turn from her previous stance, Congress leader Shama Mohamed praised skipper Rohit Sharma, "Hats off to Captain Rohit Sharma who led from the front with a brilliant 76, setting the tone for victory. ShreyasIyer15 and @klrahul played crucial knocks, steering India to glory!

“A triumph to remember!”, the Congress leader added.

Shama Mohamed had sparked controversy by posting on social media that Rohit Sharma is "fat for a sportsman" and suggested he needed to lose weight. She also described him as "the most unimpressive captain India has ever had".

In her now-deleted post on X (formerly Twitter), Shama Mohamed wrote: "@ImRo45 is fat for a sportsman! Need to lose weight! And of course, the most unimpressive Captain India has ever had!"

Shama Mohamed later defended her remarks, claiming they were a generic observation about an athlete's fitness rather than intended as body-shaming.

Rohit Sharma on Why He Did Not Change Template

India captain Rohit Sharma won the player of the match award in the final of the Champions Trophy. Speaking after the match, Rohit explained why he did not change his template despite huge criticism ahead of the tournament.

Rohit explained that the aggressive template was not natural to him, but he wanted to bat like this to set a standard for the side.

Indian skipper Rohit Sharma said that India needed to do something different to start winning ICC titles again.

"It is not natural to me, but it is something I really wanted to do. When you are trying something different, you need the backing of the team, and they were with me: Rahul bhai in the 2023 World Cup and now with Gauti bhai. I have played all these years in a different style; I wanted to see if we can get results by playing differently," Rohit Sharma said after the match.

Unbeaten India Wins Champions Trophy 2025

A swift half-century from skipper Rohit Sharma, fine knocks by Shreyas Iyer and fine spells from spinners, in particular Varun Chakravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav, helped an all-round India seal their third ICC Champions Trophy title, beating New Zealand by four wickets in Dubai on Sunday.

This is India's third ICC Champions Trophy title, having shared one with Sri Lanka in 2002 and securing the second under 'Captain Cool' MS Dhoni in 2013.

During the run-chase of 252 runs, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill gave India a fine start once again. Rohit was the aggressor against pacers, including 14 runs against Nathan Smith in eighth over, with two fours and a six.