Rohit Sharma is a foregone conclusion, India has a readymade captaincy option available: Aakash Chopra

Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra feels that India has their captain “readymade” in the form of Rohit Sharma. Chopra’s comments come in the backdrop of Virat Kohli’s decision of stepping down as the T20I skipper of India after the end of the 2021 T20 World Cup, scheduled to be played in UAE and Oman between October 17 to November 14.

During a YouTube Live session, Chopra was asked by a fan to give his take on whether Rohit Sharma should be India’s captain for the 2022 edition of the T20 World Cup. Responding to that, Chopra said: “Rohit is a foregone conclusion. It is like a situation when you have a readymade captain available for the team. There is no doubt about it,” he said.

Chopra further said that he would not be surprised to see Rohit leading the team in the 2023 ODI World Cup as well. “It’s not beyond imagination to see Rohit Sharma leading India in the ODI World Cup 2021. The transition might as well happen in the ODI format, because often captaincy is divided between white-ball and red-ball. It is very rarely seen someone leading in Test and T20I. You either lead in Test or in both ODI and T20I.”

While an official confirmation regarding who will take the baton from Kohli is awaited, it is understood that Rohit Sharma leads the race, having already captained India to 10 wins in 19 T20Is as a captain, including victories in Asia Cup and Nidahas Trophy.

Understanding the workload is a very important thing: Virat Kohli

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli, who has won 27 of the 45 T20Is as captain, on Saturday confirmed his decision to leave the captaincy in the shortest format.

“Understanding the workload is a very important thing and considering my immense workload over last 8-9 years playing all 3 formats and captaining regularly, I feel I need to give myself space to be fully ready to lead the Indian Team in test and ODI Cricket. I have everything to the team during my time as T20 Captain and I will continue to do so for the T20 Team as a batsman moving forward,” his statement read.

“Of course, arriving at this decision took a lot of time. After a lot of contemplation and discussions with my close people. Ravi [Shastri] bhai and also Rohit [Sharma], who have been an essential part of the leadership group, I’ve decided to step down as the T20 Captain after this T20 World Cup in Dubai in October.