Former Indian cricketer VVS Laxman believes that India doesn’t need a change in captaincy in limited-overs formats. While Rohit Sharma lifted the fifth Indian Premier League (IPL) trophy as captain for Mumbai Indians (MI), Virat Kohli ended another season in disappointment. Thus, many have viewed to handover the captaincy of Team India in shorter formats to Rohit.
VVS Laxman reckoned that Rohit Sharma was a successful captain and admitted that the hitman has taken India to victories in absence of India’s regular captain.
“No doubt he is a wonderful captain. Whenever he led in Virat’s absence he has been successful,” Laxman was quoted as saying during the virtual launch of ‘The Hitman: The Rohit Sharma Story’, written by Vijay Lokapally and G. Krishnan.
He heaped praise on Rohit’s captaincy for guiding Mumbai Indians to the fifth IPL title. However, he doesn’t agree with the change in the captaincy of the Indian team. The former Indian cricketer has no doubt on Virat Kohli’s leadership skills. He said that Kohli is doing a fantastic job while also has enjoyed phenomenal success.
“Leading a franchise to five titles is not easy. The way he has built the team (Mumbai Indians) and handles tough situations has been superb. He has all the qualities to be a successful captain for India but you don’t have to necessarily look for a change. Virat has had phenomenal success and is doing a fantastic job. I don’t see any requirement to make a change,” he stated.
VVS Laxman feels Rohit Sharma can put pressure on Australian bowlers:
Talking about Rohit Sharma’s Test career, VVS Laxman has drawn parallels of his Test career with that of Rohit’s. Like the former Test batting mainstay, Rohit was given the new role of the opening batsman in the extended format and he went on to dazzle everyone with his power-hitting. He notched 176 and 127 in his very first Test as an opener and followed them up with a knock of 212.
As Rohit is likely to play the Test series against Australia, Laxman believes that the opening batsman can put pressure on the bowlers once he sets himself on the field.
“His career reminded me of my career, asked to shift in the batting order. Not easy to open against quality fast overs without having opened earlier. He can put pressure on the bowlers once he gets his eye in,” VVS Laxman added.
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma didn’t feature in the limited-overs series against Australia. India lost the ODI series and is currently playing the T20I series, where they won the first T20I.