Asia Cup 2018: India Will Not Miss Captain Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma Fine Enough To Lead: Gautam Gambhir

Veteran Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir has reckoned India will miss the services of Virat Kohli as a batsman but not as a skipper in the upcoming Asia Cup.

India will have their task cut out when the start their title defence in the Asia Cup. They will be without their talismanic skipper and batting mainstay Virat Kohli. Keeping in mind the busy schedule ahead, the selectors rested the 29-year old after a busy summer in the United Kingdom where he featured in all the games.

At the previous tournament in 2016 in Bangladesh, which was a T20I format, Kohli was India’s leading run-scorer with 153 runs in their title-winning campaign.

Even during the recently concluded tour of England, Kohli was the best Indian batsman by far. In the last two ODI series for India (South Africa and England), Kohli was India’s top run-scorer. Not surprisingly, the team will miss him in the continental championship.

Kohli’s captaincy has been equally impressive. Earlier this year, he led India to their first-ever ODI series in South Africa.

However, Gautam Gambhir feels India will not miss Kohli as captain.

“If you ask me about the captaincy factor, I don’t see Kohli’s absence will affect India. Rohit Sharma is fine enough to lead,” he told Wah Cricket.

Gambhir further insisted that a team not the captain wins the game.

“A captain doesn’t win you matches, a team does. You still need 10 other players to win the match.If the bowlers take wickets, batsmen score and fielders hold onto their catches then I don’t think there should be any problem for India in the Asia Cup,” he said.

In Kohli’s absence, Rohit Sharma will lead the side who has an impeccable record as India skipper. The right-hander led the team to wins in ODI and T20I series against Sri Lanka at home last year before guiding the team to win in the Nidahas Trophy.

India, meanwhile, will open their campaign on September 18 against Hong Kong. On the very next day, they will take on arch-rivals Pakistan.