Rohit Sharma 'has true ability to lead the team': Mohammad Azharuddin

Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin has reacted to the appointment of Rohit Sharma as ODI captain in place of Virat Kohli. Azharuddin took to social media platform Koo to congratulate Rohit on being named captain of the limited-overs team and to praise the senior opener’s ability as a captain. “There are big hopes for India’s new ODI and T20 captain Rohit Sharma after Virat Kohli. And he has the true ability to lead the team like he had promised. Congratulations to the new captain,” Azharuddin wrote on the Indian social media platform Koo.

Rohit, who took over the T20I captaincy from Kohli following the T20 World Cup, was named India’s ODI captain when the BCCI announced the Test squad for the upcoming tour to South Africa on Wednesday. Rohit also took over as vice-captain of India’s Test team from the out-of-form Ajinkya Rahane.

“The All-India Senior Selection Committee also decided to name Mr Rohit Sharma as the Captain of the ODI & T20I teams going forward,” the BCCI stated in a tweet on Wednesday.

VIRAT WAS ASKED TO NOT STEP DOWN AS T20 CAPTAIN: GANGULY

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly explained the decision to replace Kohli with Rohit as ODI captain on Thursday, saying that the selectors did not want two different captains in white-ball cricket. “It’s a call that the BCCI and the selectors took together. Actually, the BCCI had requested Virat to not step down as the T20I skipper but obviously, he did not agree. And the selectors then did not feel it right to have two different captains for two white-ball formats,” Ganguly told Indian news agency ANI.

Also Read – Virat Kohli is still a leader of the team: Rohit Sharma

“So it was decided that Virat will continue as Test captain and Rohit will take over as the white-ball captain. I as President personally spoke to Virat Kohli and the chairman of selectors has also spoken to him. We have full faith in Rohit Sharma’s leadership abilities, and Virat will continue as the Test captain. We as BCCI are confident that Indian cricket is in good hands. We thank Virat Kohli for his contributions as captain in the white-ball format,” the former Indian skipper added.

ROHIT LAUDS KOHLI

The decision has sparked debate, given the ambiguity surrounding Kohli’s desire to step down as captain of the national team in the 50-over format. Rohit, on the other hand, stated that the legendary Indian cricketer remained a “leader” of the team, praising his ability to deliver with the bat.

“A batter of his quality is always needed in the squad. To have an average of 50-plus in the T20 format, it’s crazy, it’s unreal. Obviously, with the experience he has, he has bailed India out so many times from difficult situations. So that quality and his kind of batsmanship is obviously required, and he is still a leader of the team. All those things put together, you don’t want to miss out, you don’t want to ignore that kind of stuff. His presence in the squad is very, very important moving forward and it can only strengthen our team,” said Rohit during an interaction on Youtube show Backstage with Boria as quoted by Cricinfo.