IND vs WI: Rohit Sharma’s BIGGEST challenge – After being appointed the captain of the white-ball formats, Rohit Sharma is all set to be named the Test captain. But despite being the frontrunner, many have raised doubts about his ability as the captain, not as a leader but due to his persistent fitness issues. Former India pacer Ajit Agarkar believes fitness will be the biggest challenge for Rohit unlike MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli. Follow India vs West Indies Live Updates on InsideSport.IN.
While MS Dhoni brought the culture of fitness in Team India, Virat Kohli perfected the idea of it. However, Rohit Sharma has struggled with fitness, missing the South Africa tour after he was rested for the New Zealand Test series.
IND vs WI: Ajit Agarkar spills Rohit Sharma’s BIGGEST challenge as captain that Kohli-Dhoni didn’t face – Check out
“I believe Rohit’s biggest challenge will be to remain fit. We have seen of late that he has got a few injuries. The captains who were there before him – Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni – their strength was that both were extremely fit and they missed matches very few times in their careers,” Ajit Agarkar said on Star Sports show.
Rohit Sharma replaced Virat Kohli as the T20I and ODI captain but KL Rahul had to fill in in his absence as the Mumbaikar was recovering from a hamstring injury. The selectors asked Rohit to concentrate on fitness. But now that he is set to be announced as the Test captain, his fitness will be of paramount importance as he cannot miss the start of a series with another injury, especially with T20 World Cup 2022 and World Cup 2023 coming up. His two predecessors MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli hardly missed any series with injury.
IND vs WI: Ajit Agarkar spills Rohit Sharma’s BIGGEST challenge as captain that Kohli-Dhoni didn’t face – Check out
ODI squad: Rohit Sharma (Capt), KL Rahul (vc), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shikhar, Virat Kohli, Surya Kumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wk), D Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Y Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 26, 2022
“So that will be a challenge because when you play all the games, it will be easier for you to build the team. You will be able to see closely how each player reacts in a given situation. So that will be the key for him because he has the leadership qualities and we have seen that as well,” Ajit Agarkar said.
As for captaincy style, Rohit Sharma has already proved his worth leading Mumbai Indians to five IPL titles. Ajit Agarkar termed his captaincy style as more laidback than Virat Kohli’s aggressive approach.
IND vs WI: Ajit Agarkar spills Rohit Sharma’s BIGGEST challenge as captain that Kohli-Dhoni didn’t face – Check out
“Whatever we have seen of him, he will definitely be slightly laidback than Virat Kohli. But we have seen his leadership qualities, not just in franchise cricket. He has reached a stage of his career where he is extremely experienced, played a lot of matches in international cricket, so he has the experience of that,” Ajit Agarkar said.
“Generally, there is a feel for the game required for a captain, it seems he has that. The responsibility will be different now because when you are a stand-in captain, you are there for a series or few matches but here you have to prepare a team for the next World Cup – whether it is T20 or 50-over,” Ajit Agarkar added.
IND vs WI: Ajit Agarkar spills Rohit Sharma’s BIGGEST challenge as captain that Kohli-Dhoni didn’t face – Check out
