Former India captain Mithali Rajhas thrown her weight behind Smriti Mandhana as the ideal candidate to lead India's ODI and Test teams, stating that the star opener should have been handed the responsibility "two-three years back."

Raj's remarks come shortly after Mandhana expressed her willingness to captain the national side if given the opportunity. While advocating a leadership change, the batting legend also suggested that India should look towards a younger captain in T20Is.

The legendary batter further said Mandhana has the experience and temperament to lead India in the longer white-ball format and Test cricket.

"I at least thought Smriti would lead the ODI format two-three years back. 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,” Mithali Raj was quoted as saying by Cricinfo.

Raj also named Shafali Verma and Jemimah Rodrigues as potential candidates to lead India's T20I side. She stressed that whoever is appointed captain should be given enough time to settle into the role.

"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,” she continued.

Raj clarified that her views on changing the captain were not solely based on India's group-stage exit from the recently concluded Women's T20 World Cup, their second successive early exit in the tournament. Instead, she pointed to multiple factors that should be considered while evaluating a captain's future.

"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. Because I believe that there are few boxes that one need to actually see if the player ticks those boxes."

Raj also questioned Harmanpreet's performances in ICC events, saying the India captain has taken too long to produce impactful innings in recent World Cups.

"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,” she concluded.

Harmanpreet recently achieved a major career milestone by becoming the first Indian woman and only the second cricketer overall to captain a team in 200 women's international matches across formats.