Why isn’t Virat Kohli Test team captain, Rohit Sharma hasn’t proven himself as opener outside India: S Badrinath

Former India international Subramaniam Badrinath raised his questions regarding Rohit Sharma’s leadership skills after India’s defeat at the hands of South Africa in the Boxing Day Test in Centurion. Notably, both batting and bowling units failed to live up to their potential as they suffered a humiliating innings and 32-run defeat. 

Following this, Badrinath opined that Virat Kohli should lead the team in red-ball cricket. He mentioned that Rohit doesn’t have a good track record outside India and also questioned his place in the playing XI.

“Kohli is an exceptional Test captain with over 5000 runs, 40 wins, and 17 losses in 68 Tests. He led the team to a remarkable victory in the Australia series and has the fourth-most wins as Test captain. 

Why isn’t Virat Kohli the Test team captain? He’s a better Test batter than Rohit. Why is a weaker player leading instead of him? Although Rohit Sharma has been in and out, he’s a big player and has scored runs everywhere. But he hasn’t proven himself as an opener outside India. So, why is he there?” Badrinath said on his YouTube channel.

Meanwhile, the Indian skipper was disappointed with the performance of the pacers. After the match, the 36-year-old mentioned that no one other pace supported Jasprit Bumrah in the middle and added that the team shouldn’t have leaked so many runs. He also added that Prasidh Krishna is inexperienced in this format, and expects him to get better.

Avesh Khan currently seems to be the favourite to replace Prasidh in the playing XI. After taking a brilliant five-for against South Africa A, BCCI announced him as Mohammed Shami’s replacement in the squad. 

When it comes to batting, Rohit needs to get better and lead by example. The opener managed to score only five runs and because of the same, Badrinath believes that Rohit doesn’t deserve a spot in the playing XI. On the other hand, Kohli was the lone warrior in the second innings as he hit 76 runs before falling prey to Marco Jansen.