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ToggleSunil Gavaskar feels that Rohit Sharma is among the few players who are sure picks in all three formats and hence his appointment as India’s Test captain on a date is no surprise.
Rohit Sharma was named the Test skipper as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief selector Chetan Sharma announced the squad for the T20 Internationals (T20I) and Test series against Sri Lanka at home.

Sunil Gavaskar Not Surprised To See Rohit Sharma Being Assigned Permanent Test Skipper
Opener Rohit Sharma has been named India’s Test captain, succeeding Virat Kohli as the team’s leader in all three formats of the game. Virat Kohli, India’s most successful Test captain, resigned from the role in a shock move last month after seven years in charge.
Sunil Gavaskar said: “The guy who is a certainty in all three formats – when the selection committee sits down and think of who are the certainties, then Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s names will come up. And between them, Kohli is not doing captaincy, so it had to be Rohit Sharma. There was no surprise there.”

Speaking about what he feels about Rohit Sharma’s captaincy so far in the limited-overs formats, Sunil Gavaskar highlighted that the players seem to have clarity in terms of their roles in the team.
He said: “The way he has handled the team. The way players are getting clarity. I won’t say there wasn’t clarity earlier. That would be wrong to say as I was not in the dressing room, so I don’t know. But from the way he speaks, it seems like the players know their roles. And they know what the team expects from them and what the captain expects from them.”
After Virat Kohli stepped down from Test captaincy following the tour of South Africa, there was a lot of speculation about would take over in the longest format of the game. Rohit Sharma was always the frontrunner for the skipper role. However, his fitness issues cast doubts on whether he would be picked as captain across all formats, with the likes of KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant popping up as potential options.
Sunil Gavaskar: Rishabh Pant’s Name Came Up As There Wasn’t Clarity Of Rohit Sharma’s Fitness But The Latter Is The Correct Option If He’s Fit
Sunil Gavaskar himself had said that Rishabh Pant would be a good option for Test captaincy. However, Sunil Gavaskar explained that the wicketkeeper batter’s name had only come up because there was a lack of clarity on Rohit Sharma’s fitness.

He said: “Rishabh Pant’s name had come up because we didn’t know about Rohit Sharma’s fitness. But if he is completely fit, no one else can be the captain for all three formats. It was the correct decision.”
The two-match Test series against Sri Lanka will begin on March 4. India will play Sri Lanka in three T20 Internationals starting on Thursday, before a two-Test series next month. Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah is Rohit Sharma’s deputy in both squads. The opening Test in Mohali will be Virat Kohli’s 100th.
In team news, the selectors dropped senior batters Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane but Chetan Sharma said it was to give them a chance to rediscover their form in domestic cricket. Batter KL Rahul and spin-bowling allrounder Washington Sundar missed out with injuries while spinner Ravichandran Ashwin’s selection was subject to fitness, Chetan Sharma said. Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav has been recalled to the Test squad.
Test squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Priyank Panchal, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Shubhman Gill, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharath (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Sourabh Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah
T20I squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Surya Kumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Deepak Hooda, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Avesh Khan