Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has said that Virat Kohli’s decision to step down as Team India Test captain has indicated the process of transition, which was not planned as well.
However, Kohli decided to step down as India’s Test captain after the series defeat to South Africa and it left the selectors with a difficult task to choose the next captain as well. In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said:
“Transition is completely, totally upon you – you will have to do that now in any case. The transition is happening by default, not by design. The last few months have been turbulent for Indian cricket – whether it was the World T20 campaign, we have seen wholesale changes in team selection.”
“The captain had resigned from T20s before the T20 World Cup, and after that, he was not made captain for ODIs. When they go to South Africa, it was like a tug of war – you said something and the other person refuted it; everybody was washing dirty linen in public.”
“When this news came, let that sink in – that was the kind of feeling I got. It took some time to understand what has happened. It came completely out of the blue. A lot of people are saying the writing was on the wall,” he continued.
Selectors to face a tough task choosing the next Test captain – Aakash Chopra
However, Virat Kohli was sacked as Team India’s ODI captain prior to the South Africa series after he had given up the T20 captaincy. And, that created a lot of misunderstanding too. Aakash Chopra also added that the selectors will face a tough task choosing the next Test captain now.
“What about Indian cricket now; where will India go from here? You have not prepared that many captains in Test cricket. Ajinkya Rahane was there – he is now standing on the exit door. Rohit Sharma does not remain that fit – that you give him the captaincy of all three formats,” he said.
He again shared:
“Ravichandran Ashwin – we are talking about whether he will get a place at all overseas. KL Rahul looks like the most likely heir apparent, but Rohit is actually the vice-captain. So you will make Rohit the captain and Rahul the vice-captain, or you will separate Test and limited-overs and give the Test captaincy to Rahul.”
Aakash Chopra also expressed his disappointment at the call taken by Virat Kohli as well. He reasoned:
“I will be very honest, I didn’t feel Virat Kohli will leave the Test captaincy and shouldn’t have done also from my viewpoint or from Indian cricket’s viewpoint if you see from where to where he has taken the Indian team. I am slightly disappointed and definitely shocked.”
However, he named Virat Kohli the best-ever Indian Test skipper. Virat Kohli led India in 68 Tests in which they won 40 games as well.
“India was at No. 7 when Kohli took the reins of this team, they are at No.1 at the moment and have been so for the last 4-5 years. One of the most successful Test captains of all time, and I am not talking only about Indian captains here because his name is at the top of the list of Indian captains,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
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