3 reasons why Rohit Sharma should replace Virat Kohli as India’s limited-overs captain
Although Virat Kohli has been the captain of the Indian limited-over sides for only two and a half years, he has captained the team in two global tournaments in that period. And India, despite going into both those tournaments with huge potential in the squad, couldn’t go all the way in either of them.
Yes, the captain can’t be held totally responsible for every defeat that a team suffers. But what has been identical in the two ICC knockout defeats that India has suffered under Kohli, has been the failure of the top 3 against the new ball followed by the middle order’s inability to steady the sinking ship after that.
While the middle order batsmen can’t escape criticism for not stepping up to the plate after the rare failure of the top order, it also can’t go ignored that India were the only team in the recently concluded World Cup which kept chopping and changing its middle order throughout the tournament. Even before a game as big as a semi-final, they had no idea who their ideal No. 4, 5, 6 and 7 were.
It’s not just during the World Cup that India have constantly experimented with the middle order spots; they have been doing that right since the start of Kohli’s reign as captain. And one of the reasons behind that is Kohli’s impatience to give any player enough time to settle at a particular spot in the middle order.
Even though India’s campaign in the World Cup ended on an extremely sad note, the BCCI has decided to keep Kohli in charge of the team across all three formats. But many Indian fans believe it’s time now for Rohit Sharma to take over the leadership role in limited-overs cricket from Kohli.
Here are the 3 reasons why Rohit should replace Kohli as India’s limited-overs captain:
#1 Willingness to back players
Rohit Sharma is a 4-time IPL winner with Mumbai Indians as captain. While he has been blessed with some wonderful players in the Mumbai squad, the role of his leadership in Mumbai’s triumphs can’t be undermined.
One of the things that Rohit does with the Mumbai team is that he doesn’t chop and change much. If he picks a young player, he gives him ample time to find his feet before discarding him if he fails consistently.
The prime example of that are the two leg spinners that he has played in the past two editions. Rohit had two options at his disposal at the start of the last season – Mayank Markande and Rahul Chahar. Rohit decided to go with Markande last season and gave him the full season to showcase his potential, even though he proved to be expensive in some of the games.
This season, he did the same with Rahul Chahar. And the confidence shown by the captain resulted in both the spinners being able to earn an India call-up through their IPL performances.
Unlike Kohli, Rohit is willing to back young players - which is utterly important for the development of their skills.