Madan Lal believes Rohit Sharma's experience of having led Mumbai Indians to as many as 5 IPL titles will come in handy if he takes over as India's next T20I captain.
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Former Indian pacer Madan Lal who was a part of the national team that won the 1983 World Cup, believes that Rohit Sharma is the obvious choice for captaincy after Virat Kohli decided to step down as T20I captain. Lal is the chief of the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) and stated that Rohit’s experience having led Mumbai Indians (MI) to a lot of success will hold him in good stead.
“I don’t think there will be any discussion about someone else’s name because i think Rohit Sharma will become T20I captain. His performances in IPL as Mumbai Indians captain has been very good. BCCI secretary Jay Shah has spoken about the roadmap. In that case, Rohit Sharma was the vice-captain, he has a lot of experience having been Kohli’s deputy,” said the former Indian cricketer in an interaction with AajTak.
“I don’t think there will be any discussion on that. But we have to see whether the selectors will discuss a 50-over captain. Till now, Virat Kohli has led well in ODIs and Tests. He hasn’t won an ICC title but he has won helped build strong bench strength. It depends on how Rohit Sharma performs. If he does well in T20 World Cup (next year), then there will be discussion about him in the selection meeting. It is possible that if he produces good results, he can also be made captain of the 50-over format,” he added.
Legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar believes that split captaincy might be the way forward for India.
“When I read the resignation letter, he himself mentioned he deliberated it with Rohit Sharma, Ravi Shastri, Sourav Ganguly, Jay Shah and the selectors. Only after all that, he has taken the decision. It seems to be a personal decision. He has discussed it with everyone. But there were a lot of rumours in the last 6 months. Those would have given him a hint that the BCCI and the selectors were not satisfied. I think he must have thought of quitting captaincy and hand it over to someone else,” said Gavaskar.
“It seems split captaincy might be the way forward. In his announcement, he has said he will continue to lead in ODIs. So it’s his decision and not the selector’s decision, I think. A decision will be taken as to whether he will lead in white-ball cricket. When it comes to Tests, there is no doubt that Kohli should continue. There are no doubts about his Test captaincy. But for ODIs, it remains to see whether the selection committee will discuss it,” he added.
BCCI President Sourav Ganguly hailed Kohli as a “true asset” after the player announced his decision to step down from captaincy in the T20I format.
“Virat has been a true asset for Indian Cricket and has led with aplomb. He is one of the most successful captains in all the formats. The decision has been made keeping in mind the future roadmap. We thank Virat for his tremendous performance as the T20I Captain. We wish him all the best for the upcoming World Cup and beyond and hope that he continues to score plenty of runs for India,” he stated.
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