- The iconic and equally maverick Virat Kohli has shockingly resigned from the captaincy of the Indian Test team soon after the series loss to South Africa. People closely following the development would not feel surprised by the move as there was no love lost between the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials and the lynchpin of Indian cricket Virat Kohli over the happenings of the last few weeks. As you are aware, Kohli wanted to continue to lead the Indian 50-over team even after relinquishing the T20 captaincy. Rightly, the selectors did not want to have two separate captains for the shorter formats of the game and hence, sacked Kohli from the 50-over captaincy too.
- Of course, this did not go well with the most powerful cricketer in the Indian team since Kohli was used to getting around things in his own ways for the last so many years. Obviously, he never expected the Board mandarins to go against his wishes. However, the Board officials were left with no options as the abrasive nature of Kohli kept coming to the fore from his by now familiar social media outbursts. In hindsight, a series victory in South Africa would have provided a perfect platform for Kohli to reassert himself. Unfortunately, the unexpected defeat from the second-string Proteas side put paid to his hopes.
PC: Rachit Kanaujia
- Hence, it was a matter of time before the axe would fall on him. He preempted the sacking from Test captaincy by resigning soon after the series defeat. Now, the moot point to ponder over here is who will be stepping in to fill those big shoes as Kohli leaves behind an impressive track record as a skipper. Most of the cricket enthusiasts including the pundits would have us believe that the hitman Rohit Sharma is the right candidate to step up. Mind you, he has been declared as the captain in both forms of the shorter versions already. Of late, his records in the classic form of the game are equally impressive.
- Rohit definitely fits the bill without an iota of doubt. Pragmatically speaking, at best, Rohit could be a stop-gap arrangement for a year or two. But what the selectors should be looking here is to build the Test team for the future, say 5 years or so down the line, which is right now looking at an inevitable transitional phase in a year or two. Another equally thinking cricketer like Ravichandran Ashwin also fits the bill but is on the wrong side of the mid-30s. Thus, it leaves the choice to increasingly delightful ascendancy of all format player KL Rahul and a gamechanger like wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant.
PC: IANS
- Both are young and automatically select themselves in the Test playing eleven. Amongst the two, it appears KL Rahul is the frontrunner to don the much-coveted role if the selectors overlook Rohit Sharma as an interim choice. However, there is one more choice available for consideration in the form of an outstandingly developing all-format pacer named Jasprit Bumrah. He could be construed as a dark horse but endowed with enough credentials to skip into the role of the captain with ease. Let us wait and watch for the eventual outcome.
