With much surprise, the BCCI on Wednesday has appointed Rohit Sharma as the captain of India’s ODI team. Notably, he has been named the captain of the T20 team beforehand and he has led the team against New Zealand at home as well.
With this, Virat Kohli’s nearly five-year tenure as limited-overs captain has come to an end as well. Notably, he took over the reins of the longer format in late 2015 after MS Dhoni retired and in the limited-over in 2017.
Meanwhile, former India coach Ravi Shastri, who worked closely with Virat Kohli and whose term has ended with the T20 World Cup has shared his thoughts on Rohit Sharma taking charge of India’s limited-overs captaincy as well as how the split captaincy would work in Indian cricket.
“Rohit is not overawed; he always does what is best for the team. He marshalls all the resources of the team unlike, let’s say, in football,” Shastri told The Week in an interview.
“We have a similar wavelength” – Ravi Shastri on Rohit, Kohli
Ravi Shastri also recalled his tenure as coach, sharing how he has seen both Kohli and Rohit have evolved with time and become two of the world’s best batsmen of all-format.
However, Shastri first joined the team in 2014 as director, before getting promoted to the head coach post in 2017.
“We are two people with a similar mindset. We have a similar wavelength. In 2014, when I first came in, there was only one big player – MS Dhoni. Who else was there? Who was superstar material? Virat, and maybe Rohit Sharma, in white-ball cricket. To see these two guys come through and become great players in red- and white-ball cricket, to have a great fast-bowling attack, to beat Australia in their backyard – there have been so many firsts with this team. It is overwhelming,” concluded Ravi Shastri.
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma’s first assignment as ODI skipper will be during the tour of South Africa, where India are scheduled to play three ODIs.
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