Veteran pacer S Sreesanth has said that Rohit Sharma should replace Virat Kohli as the captain of Team India’s T20I side. In a chat with WION, S Sreesanth also said that every country should have one team for all the three formats.
Kohli has done exceedingly well as captain across formats. Under him, India remained at the top of ICC Test rankings for more than three years and have also delivered consistently in ODIs and T20Is. Under Kohli, India won their first-ever Test and ODI series in Australia in 2018-19 season and also won ODI series in South Africa and New Zealand. As far as his record in ICC tournaments is concerned, he led India to the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy and the semifinal of last year’s World Cup.
Traditionally, Indian cricket has not been an admirer of split captaincy. Kohli had taken over as Test captain only after MS Dhoni retired from the longest format of the game. Prior to that, Dhoni was the captain across formats. Virat Kohli has been leading the team across formats since Dhoni stepped down as T20I and ODI captain at the start of 2017.
However, there are calls from several quarters to appoint Rohit as the captain in T20Is in order to ease the pressure off Kohli. Rohit has proved his captaincy skill by leading Mumbai Indians to a record four IPL titles as well as leading India to glory in the Asia Cup and Nidahas Trophy. And S Sreesanth also believes that Rohit should lead the team in the shortest format of the game. He also said that out-of-favour batsman Suresh Raina deserves more appreciation.
“I firmly believe in one team for all formats. Suresh Raina is someone who deserves a lot more appreciation. And with all due respect to Virat, Rohit will captain in T20s and Kohli can take the captain’s band in all other formats,” said S Sreesanth.
He also picked an India XI, and included himself in it. The World Cup-winner picked Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan as openers, followed by Virat Kohli. No.4 slot was awarded to Suresh Raina by Sreesanth. KL Rahul came in next at the number 5 slot.
Then Dhoni too made it to the team. All-rounders Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja too found a place in the side. The two pacers that he picked for the team were himself and Jasprit Bumrah. Sreesanth is currently gearing up to return to high-profile cricket as his ban is set to end next month.
S Sreesanth’s India XI:
Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, KL Rahul, MS Dhoni, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Sreesanth.