NEWS
Follow UsFormer India selector Dilip Vengsarkar says that Virat Kohli's resignation as the T20 International (T20I) captain was on expected lines. Having been India's No. 1 player across formats for many years now, Vengsarkar reckons the timing of his decision was also perfect.
Kohli announced that he would step down as India's T20I captain following the T20 World Cup. "I was expecting it. He's been leading India and has been the No 1 batsman in all formats for almost eight years. He's been under tremendous pressure to perform because we expect a lot from him every time he goes into bat. Besides that, he's not done exceptionally well in the T20 format as captain. Even in the IPL, he hasn't led the Royal Challengers Bangalore to a single tournament win. That must've played on his mind too," Vengsarkar told TOI.
"The timing of his decision has been perfect. The only thing I hope now is he wins the World Cup and signs off as an India T20 captain on a high. It could be his last hurrah as T20I captain," stated Vengsarkar.
Vengsarkar, who picked Kohli in 2008 for the tour of Sri Lanka in which he made his debut says Rohit Sharma deserves to be India's next T20I captain. "Rohit deserves to be India's next T20 captain because he's done exceptionally well whenever he's been given an opportunity. In 2018, India won the Asia Cup under his captaincy. Besides that, he's been an exceptional captain for the Mumbai Indians," recommended Vengsarkar.
Another selector Sandeep Patil says that the BCCI and Kohli have not been seeing eye to eye regarding his India skipper's decision. "It seems that there's a big communication gap between BCCI and Virat. You can't have Virat say one thing and the BCCI another. Just a couple of days back, there was a story in TOI about him quitting as a white-ball captain to focus on his batting. However, the BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal rubbished that news quickly. This is purely Virat's decision, and the BCCI should just accept it," stressed Patil.
Kohli's next target will be to lead Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to their maiden title in the Indian Premier League (IPL), with the second phase of the 2021 season scheduled to kick start on Sunday (September 19).
The T20 World Cup will commence from October 17, with India playing their first game of the tournament in the Super 12 stage against arch-rivals Pakistan on October 24 in Dubai.