'He has proved his mettle' - Former cricketers back Rohit Sharma to succeed as India's white-ball captain

Virat Kohli announced his decision to step down from the role of captaincy in the shortest format after the conclusion of the upcoming T20 World Cup. While talks were going on as to he might give up captaincy in one of the formats to concentrate on batting. Kohli clarified on the post that the demands of the three formats are not allowing him the time and space.

The BCCI is yet to announce Kohli’s successor in the T20I format. Currently, Rohit Sharma is the team’s designated white-ball vice-captain and ideally, he should be the successor in taking on the leadership role from Kohli. But if certain reports are to be believed, then Kohli is keen on having the India opener in the role of vice-captaincy due to his age. The Indian skipper has also recommended names of KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant for the ODI and T20I format respectively.

But many former India cricketers are of the view that Rohit Sharma should get captaincy in T20I format after the T20 World Cup. Dilip Vengsarkar has said it is a no-brainer and Rohit deserves to be the next leader in line owing to his brilliant ability to have always performed well whenever Kohli was not around.

“Rohit deserves to be India’s next T20 captain because he has done well whenever he’s been given an opportunity to lead India,” Vengsarkar told Times of India.

“In 2018, India won the Asia Cup under his captaincy. Besides that, he’s been an exceptional captain for Mumbai Indians, having led them to five IPL titles.”

Former India batter Sandeep Patil too echoed the sentiments of Vengsarkar and said, Rohit Sharma has proved has leadership experience and he has had a fair bit of success in it for the past few years while leading Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL). “Rohit has proved his mettle”, Patil said.

India should groom KL Rahul as future white-ball captain: Sunil Gavaskar

Legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has a slightly different take on the matter. Although he believed India’s opener was the best man to lead the team in the shortest format, he also felt that India should groom KL Rahul in the leadership role in the limited-overs format.

“It’s important to think ahead,” Gavaskar told the Sports Tak program. “He has been performing well in IPL and 50-overs cricket as well at the international stage. He can be made vice-captain,” added Gavaskar.