While there have been calls regarding the change in captaincy of India’s limited-overs side,cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra has defended Virat Kohli by saying that the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper cannot be blamed for the franchise’s poor performances.
Kohli’s RCB side, who has never managed to clinch the trophy at the lucrative T20 tournament, once again failed to break the jinx at this year’s edition and slumped to a six-wicket defeat at the hands of the SunRisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator to crash out of the tournament.
Following the result,former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) Gautam Gambhir slammed Kohli for failing to lead his team to the final of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 and said that it is time for Kohli to quit captaincy.
Meanwhile, Gambhir also opined that Indian opening batsman Rohit Sharma should be given the charge of the national side at least in the T20 format considering his terrific record as the captain of the Mumbai Indians in the IPL.
The Mumbai franchise clinched a comfortable five-wicket win over the first-time finalists Delhi Capitals in the summit showdown in Dubai to successfuly defend their title.With the win, Rohit Sharma also led Mumbai Indians to a record fifth IPL glory.
Disagreeing with Gambhir’s statement, Chopra said that though Rohit is outstanding as the captain, he should not be given the leadership of the national side based on his success in the IPL.
Chopra further insisted that Kohli shouldn’t be punished if his IPL side doesn’t perform well. He further quizzed would Rohit be successful in winning titles if he was given this RCB team.
“Gautam Gambhir believes that it is the nation’s misfortune if Rohit Sharma is not made the Indian T20I captain because he is the most successful captain in the IPL,” the cricketer-turned-commentator said in a video posted on his Facebook page.
“But I have a question that if Rohit was given the RCB team, which is there with Kohli, will he have won two, three or four out of the five titles MI have won?Rohit as a captain is outstanding, I love him to bits but can the Mumbai Indians’ success story be equated with India, that is my question. Just because Kohli’s team does not do well, does it mean that is Kohli’s fault,” he added.
Chopra added that as India are not sheduled to play many matches in the shortest format of the game at the moment, he doesn’t see a change in captaincy in the near future.
“They cannot make him the captain now, however much you may try. I know it is not fair, I know it is tough but this is what it is. It cannot happen now as there is a simple reason for that.There are not too many T20 matches at the moment. Let us wait for some time, let us be cool, he cannot become the captain now. Kohli is the captain currently and I don’t feel that there is going to be a captaincy change in this team now,” Chopra stated.
India are also slated to play three-match One-Day International (ODI) series and as many Twenty20Is and four-match Test series against Australia, starting from November 27 at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).
Kohli has been granted paternity leave and he will head home following the opening Australia Test in order to be with his actress wife Anushka Sharma at the time of the birth of their first child in January 2021.
Meanwhile, Rohit–who missed most of the second-half of the Mumbai Indians’ campaign in the 2020 IPL due to a recurring hamstring injury–has been added to the Indian squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.He, however, has been rested for the ODIs and T20Is.
