Ravi Shastri, the former India head coach wants Virat Sharma if he is needed to captain India in Rohit’s absence. Shastri wanted Kohli to lead India in the fifth rescheduled test against England at Edgbaston, after Rohit was injured. Instead of Kohli the management chose Jasprit.
India played a one-off test last year, after Covid-19’s outbreak in 2021 delayed the fifth match for a year. India was leading the series by 2-1 under Kohli. However, Kohli later relinquished the Test captaincy and Rohit took over.
Shastri said on Espncricinfo’s Ravi & Raunak that “I thought Virat should captain once Rohit was injured“. If I were still there, I’m certain Rahul [Dravid] would have done the exact same thing. I haven’t spoken to him, but I would have recommended to the board to give him the lead because he was the captain of the team leading 2-1 and could probably have gotten the best out of the team.
Shastri suggested that Kohli be made captain if Rohit was unable to do so for whatever reason. Shastri said Kohli was in a much better position than last year, when he had to deal with the terrible lean patch.
Virat Kohli, the stand-in skipper for RCB
Virat Kohli, who is the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB’s) captain due to Faf du Plessis being injured and unable to play for his team as a batsman only, has been leading RCB in a few matches. The Indian Premier League season has seen him in better form than last year.
The 34-year old has already scored 333 runs in eight matches, and is second on the list for most runs scored during IPL 2023. Du Plessis holds the top spot, with 422 runs in eight matches. According to reports, Kohli is set to captain RCB one last time on Monday (May 1) when they face off against the Lucknow Super Giants.
