Don't Think These Recent Happenings Should Have Any Bearing On Indian Cricket As A Brand: Rashid Latif

Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif feels the recent tiff between the Indian cricket board (BCCI) and Virat Kohli won’t have any damage on the brand of Indian cricket.

Kohli stepped down from the T20I captaincy role after the conclusion of the T20 World Cup in November, last year. However, just ahead of the South Africa tour, he was replaced with Rohit Sharma as the ODI captain as the selectors didn’t want two white-ball captains for India.

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BCCI president Sourav Ganguly had said that the selectors had requested Kohli to not give up the T20I captaincy, something that national chief selector Chetan Sharma also reiterated during the recently-concluded South Africa Test series.

However, Kohli had mentioned that his decision to step down from India’s T20I captaincy was welcomed by the Indian board.

A lot now depends on how Rohit Sharma handles the team: Rashid Latif

South Africa whitewashed India 3-0 in the recent ODI series after a narrow win by four runs on Sunday in Cape Town. This was India’s first ODI series after Kohli stepped down as captain of the team from all formats.

However, Latif is of the opinion that all these happenings won’t have any kind of adverse effect on the image of Indian cricket.

The former Pakistan captain is looking forward to seeing how Rohit Sharma takes the Indian team from here on and replicate his IPL success with the national team.

“They have a strong base in the IPL and Indian cricket is now established as financially very strong so eventually I don’t think these recent changes or happenings should have any bearing on Indian cricket as a brand,” Latif said on ‘Cricket Baaz’ Youtube channel.

“I think a lot now depends on how Rohit Sharma handles the team but he has his own style of leading the side and he has already achieved a lot with Mumbai Indians in the IPL.

“It remains to be seen how motivated he will be to captain in Tests. Kohli brought energy and purpose to his captaincy and team,” he further added.

India will be hosting the West Indies cricket team for three ODI matches followed by as many T20 Internationals, the white-ball series starts on February 6.

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