Shame if Rohit Sharma Doesn’t Get India’s White-Ball Captaincy: Gautam Gambhir
Gautam Gambhir, the former India batsman, believes it will be a shame and "Indian cricket's misfortune" if Rohit Sharma isn't considered for the white-ball captaincy.
Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir said that now is the time to handover India’s white-ball captaincy or specifically T20I captaincy to Rohit Sharma as he led his team capture the IPL title for the fifth time in 13 years.
On Tuesday 10 November, the Mumbai team won the IPL title for the second consecutive time under Rohit’s captaincy. Rohit Sharma played a brilliant innings of 68 runs ( off 51 deliveries) against Delhi Capitals in the final and led the team to victory. Batting first, DC scored 156 runs for seven in the alloted 20 overs. In response, Mumbai Indians achieved the target with ease in just 18.4 overs at the loss of 5 wickets.
If Rohit Sharma Doesn’t Become India’s Captain, it’s Their Loss, Not Rohit: Gautam Gambhir
The former KKR captain feels that it is India’s misfortune that he is not the captain of the Indian team. Rohit Sharma has won overall six IPL titles. He won five as the captain of Mumbai Indians while he also won the title in 2009 for Deccan Chargers under the leadership of Adam Gilchrist.
“If Rohit Sharma doesn’t become India’s captain, it’s their loss, not Rohit’s. Yes, a captain is only as good as his team and I completely agree with that, but what are the parameters to judge a captain on who is good and who isn’t? The parameters and benchmark should be the same. Rohit has led his team to five IPL titles,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Gambhir as saying.
Rohit Sharma is The Most Successful Captain: Gautam Gambhir
Gambhir further called Rohit Sharma as the most successful captain in the history of the tournament. He said that it will be a shame for India if he doesn’t get India’s white-ball or specifically T20I captaincy.
“We keep saying MS Dhoni is India’s most successful captain. Why? Because he has won two World Cups and three IPLs,” Gambhir said. “Rohit has won five IPL titles, he is the most successful captain in the history of the tournament. Going forward, it’ll be a shame if he doesn’t get India’s white-ball or just T20 captaincy. Because he can’t do much more than this. He can only help the team he captains to victories. So if he doesn’t become India’s regular white-ball captain, it will be their loss,” he said.
Virat Kohli is currently leading Team India in all three formats after MS Dhoni quit the post. But Gautam Gambhir feels that India should opt for ‘split-captaincy’ and give Rohit a chance to lead India in the limited-overs cricket.
“They can also consider split-captaincy. No one is poor. Rohit has shown in white-ball cricket how big the difference is between his and Virat’s captaincy. One player had led his team to five titles, the other hasn’t won yet. I’m not saying this because Kohli is a poor captain. But he has received the same platform that Rohit has, so you have to judge both of them on the same parameters. Both have been captains in the IPL for the same length of time. I feel Rohit stands out as a leader,” Gambhir concluded.
