Former India all-rounder Ajit Agarkar believes that Rohit Sharma’s style of captaincy will be slightly different from Virat Kohli as he pointed out that the Mumbai batter has a more composed and relaxed personality and it will reflect in his leadership.
Rohit Sharma was appointed India’s white-ball captain ahead of the South Africa tour but he missed both the Test and ODI series against South Africa. But now he is all set to take over the responsibility in the series against West Indies starting on February 6 at Ahmedabad.
Rohit Sharma captained India in 10 ODIs and 22 T20Is
In a show ‘Game Plan’ on Star Sports, Ajit Agarkar weighed in his thoughts about Rohit Sharma’s leadership.
“Whatever we have seen of him, he will definitely be slightly laidback than Virat Kohli. But we have seen his leadership qualities, not just in franchise cricket. He has reached a stage of his career where he is extremely experienced, played a lot of matches in international cricket, so he has the experience of that.” Ajit Agarkar said.
So far he led India in 10 ODIs with 8 wins and 2 losses. Similarly, his record in T20Is is equally good as in 22 T20I matches, India won 18 games under his leadership. However, Agarkar stated that becoming a full-time captain is different responsibility compared to doing the job as a stand-in captain.
“Generally, there is a feel for the game required for a captain, it seems he has that. The responsibility will be different now because when you are a stand-in captain, you are there for a series or few matches but here you have to prepare a team for the next World Cup – whether it is T20 or 50-over,” he added.
However, Agarkar expressed his concerns over Rohit Sharma’s fitness as the 34-year old missed lots of matches in the past couple of years. He gave the example of Dhoni and Kohli who missed very few matches due to fitness concerns.
“I believe his [Rohit’s] biggest challenge will be to remain fit. We have seen of late that he has got a few injuries. The captains who were there before him – Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni – their strength was that both were extremely fit and they missed matches very few times in their careers,” he stated.
The first ODI between India and West Indies will be played in Ahmedabad on February 6.
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