IND vs WI: Virat Kohli back as Test CAPTAIN for India: The debates around India’s new test captain have begun to rise following team India’s humiliating defeat in the ICC World Test Championship Final against Australia. With incumbent Rohit Sharma failing to produce welcoming results, the debates are going to intensify in the coming months.
It’s a no-brainer that the fans are not happy with how the Indian team has fared in the last few months, or I should say a couple of years. The defeat in the Asia Cup 2022, T20 World Cup 2022 and then the ICC WTC Final 2023 has only led to India’s downfall in the crucial multi-nation tournaments.
The defeats certainly don’t justify the calibre and potential of team India, however, the results have dried up since India’s last ICC title win in 2013. The Men in Blue have conquered every team in the bilateral tours, but when it comes to ICC tournaments, it’s been an upsetting story.
Team India’s recent ICC WTC loss to Australia hasn’t gone well with the fans and even experts, who took a shot at the Indian team for constantly failing in important matches. Expectedly, captaincy became one of the hot topics to discuss among netizens, and many called for the sacking of Rohit Sharma.
Although there is no immediate threat to Rohit Sharma’s position in the Indian test team as the captain, at some point, the BCCI would look at other players, who can potentially replace Sharma. It’s highly unlikely for Rohit to lead the team until the next WTC culmination due to his age factor coming into play.
The upcoming World Test Championship cycle will run till 2025 and by that time Rohit will be 38. It will be a challenge for him to keep himself fit if he wants to continue as the leader of the red-ball side.
It’s worth noting that a few months back, India had a couple of great choices for the test leadership, however, now all of them are either injured or not encouraging enough to handle the roles. The likes of Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant are all injured and undergoing rehabilitation.
Young Shubman Gill is a promising candidate to lead India in the future, however, right now he is too inexperienced to handle the test captaincy pressure.
IND vs WI: Virat Kohli back as Test Captain for team India
Meanwhile, a few voices have even called for the reinstatement of Virat Kohli as the test captain, who relinquished the role after India’s 1-2 defeat against Proteas during India’s last tour to South Africa.
Former Indian chairman of selectors, MSK Prasad believes that if Ajinkya Rahane can be brought back as the team’s vice-captain for the upcoming tour of West Indies then Virat Kohli can also be an option to look at.
“I don’t know if I can answer this question. I don’t know the mindset of the selectors. Usually, the mindset of the selectors should be now with the WTC cycle it should be a clear cycle, that’s how the mindset should be,” MSK Prasad told Khel Now.
“Why not Virat Kohli? When Ajinkya Rahane can come back and become the vice-captain, then why not Virat Kohli? I don’t know what the mindset of Virat is on the captaincy. In case selectors are thinking beyond Rohit, I don’t know whether they are thinking but if they are thinking beyond Rohit, then I think Virat can also be an option.”
Interestingly, MSK Prasad is not the first person to have suggested Virat Kohli’s comeback as the leader of the peck. Back in 2022 when Rohit was down with covid during India’s rescheduled fifth test against England, a number of cricket pundits wanted Virat to take up the role as he was the most experienced in the side. However, the Indian cricket board went ahead with Jasprit Bumrah for the one-off test against England.
For more details head to ICC’s official website.