WTC Final 2023: Virat Kohli captaincy – With Virat Kohli returning to captaincy, albeit temporarily for Royal Challengers Bangalore, fans have seen glimpses of his brilliant leadership quality. Former India coach Ravi Shastri too wants India Cricket Team to follow that if the regular captain Rohit Sharma misses out on major events. Rohit missed the crucial 5th Test against England and it was Jasprit Bumrah who led India in England. However, with India vs Australia WTC Final coming up, Shastri doesn’t want a repeat of that. Instead, he wants Kohli to lead in Rohit’s absence. Follow IND vs AUS WTC Final Live Updates with InsideSport.IN.
With injuries and illness, Rohit Sharma has often missed games. But in major events like the WTC Final, India need an experienced head. To make things worse, BCCI has not named any official deputy. With KL Rahul losing his vice-captaincy and Ajinkya Rahane only returning apart from absence of Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant, Shastri makes a valid arguement.
“If it’s for a major game like that, I want Rohit to be fit, he is the captain. But god forbid something happens under unforeseen circumstances, definitely, I’ll look in that direction (Kohli leading India),” Shastri told ESPNCricinfo.
Shastri also argued that instead of giving Bumrah the captaincy, the Indian team management should have asked Kohli to lead the side in the postponed fifth Test. Rohit missed the game after testing positive for Covid-19.
“Once Rohit was injured, I thought Virat would captain. If I was still there – I’m sure Rahul (Dravid) might have done the same thing, I have not spoken to him. I would’ve recommended to the board that it’s only fair he leads because he was captain of the team that was leading 2-1 in the series. Probably he could have got the best out of the team,” he said.
Virat Kohli led India to a 2-1 lead over England in 2021 Test series. However, as the final match was rescheduled following a Covid-19 outbreak in India camp, the match was played in July 22. But Kohli had stepped down from Test captaincy following South Africa tour. He was removed from ODI leadership before the SA tour, installing Rohit as the all-format captain.
After over 400 days, Virat Kohli donned the captaincy hat once again in IPL having given up the role at Royal Challengers Bangalore. But as Faf du Plessis is nursing a rib injury, he has limited himself to an “Impact Player”.
“He’s in a very good space, enjoying his cricket. That’s the feeling I got as opposed to last year when we were sitting and discussing does he need a break, does he not need a break. He seemed to have the burden of the whole world on his shoulders,” Ravi Shastri said.
“Now it’s refreshing. The enthusiasm, passionate energy and enjoyment have come back, which for me was the best thing to see. Runs you might or might not get but when you see someone, and the passion, enjoyment and drive is back again, it’s good,” he added.
As India head back to the UK to take on Australia in June, Rohit Sharma will be under the scanner after a string of injuries he had in the recent past.
India Squad WTC Final: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Shubman Gill, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, KS Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Shami, Axar Patel, Mohd. Siraj, Jaydev Unadkat, and Umesh Yadav.
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