Aakash Chopra, former Indian opener turned commentator has opined that skipper of Mumbai Indians Rohit Sharma cannot be handed over the captaincy of the Indian team just because he has been a successful captain in the IPL.
Chopra made this observation in a video shared on his Facebook page, where he answered some viewer questions.
Aakash Chopra Doubts Whether Rohit Sharma Can Lead India Equally Well Like Mumbai Indians
Aakash Chopra talked about former KKR skipper two-time IPL winner Gautam Gambhir’s recent statement that India will lose if Rohit Sharma is not made the country’s T20I skipper immediately as his credentials as Mumbai Indians captain are excellent.
“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,” Aakash Chopra said.
The reputed commentator asked whether Rohit Sharma would have enjoyed similar success if he happened to lead the Royal Challengers Bangalore team led currently by Virat Kohli instead of the much stronger Mumbai Indians outfit consisting of Hardik Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav.
“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?”
Despite acknowledging that Rohit Sharma has been excellent as captain, Aakash Chopra pointed out that the Indian captaincy cannot be given to him just because of his success with Mumbai Indians and similarly noted that Virat Kohli could not be blamed for the RCB team not performing well on a regular basis.
“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.”
Rohit Sharma has captained in 106 matches for Mumbai Indians, and the team won 61 of those. Rohit Sharma has led India in 10 ODIs out of which India have won 8 besides 20 T20Is out of which India won 16. Both times the win percentage is as high as 80%.
Aakash Chopra: Not Too Many T20I Matches In Future Means Virat Kohli Will Continue As Skipper
Aakash Chopra replied negatively when a viewer asked him if it is time to hand over the T20I captaincy to Rohit Sharma instead of Virat Kohli which isn’t fair according to the former KKR batsman.
“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,” he stated.
The former KKR player reasoned that the MI skipper and opener is not even fit at the moment while questioning the reason behind the Mumbai Indians captain playing the IPL 2020 final when he is not likely to be fit for the white-ball leg consisting of 3 ODIs and as many T20Is of the Indian tour to Australia.
“First of all, he is not going now, he is not even fit. There is a separate mystery going on there regarding when he will get fit. If he is fit on the 10th, why is he not fit for the 27th. Things are topsy-turvy at the moment,” Chopra stated.
Aakash Chopra concluded by observing that India is not scheduled to play too many T20I matches in the near future and that Virat Kohli will continue to lead the team for now.
“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,” Aakash Chopra remarked.
Rohit Sharma’s spectacular success as the captain of the Mumbai Indians team has certainly led to questions on whether he should be appointed the captain of the Indian T20I team.
But he is not a part of the Indian limited-overs side for the Australian tour, and with the next T20I engagement for the national team not being any sooner, the question can be laid to rest as of now.