No Harm In Giving Rohit Sharma Captaincy In T20 Format Before The World Cup - Parthiv Patel

Former India cricketer, Parthiv Patel believes that with almost a year left for the T20 World Cup slated in India, it wouldn’t be a terrible decision to hand the T20 captaincy to a prominent figure in Team India – Rohit Sharma.

The debate of replacing Virat Kohli with Rohit Sharma as the captain of the national T20 team, if not ODIs as well, has been doing rounds for a few years. With Mumbai winning the IPL for the fifth time, it jas just increase manifold.

Since taking the reins of Mumbai Indians in 2013, Rohit has led the franchise to five IPL titles, while at the same time, Kohli took Royal Challengers Bangalore to a solitary final in 2016, losing it to David Warner’s Sunrisers Hyderabad. Apart from that in Kohli’s absence, the opener has also led India to victories in multi-nation tournaments like the Nidahas Trophy and the Asia Cup.

Rohit Sharma has shown us how to win a tournament: Parthiv Patel

Parthiv Patel opined that giving Rohit Sharma the captaincy in the shortest format is a reasonable idea as the right-hander has shown how to win tournaments.

Rohit has been attributed with the qualities of being calm and composed under pressure situations as a captain on the field, and also he is known to back his players, especially bowlers, even after they have a bad day; the traits which were highly associated with former captain, MS Dhoni.

On the other hand, Kohli has been criticized for being opposite; plenty of changes after a loss, and not making radical decisions at crucial moments. If not just RCB, under Kohli, India have already lost two knockout games – Champions Trophy final and World Cup semifinal – which the team started as firm favourites.

As quoted by Sports Tak, Parthiv Patel said, “Rohit Sharma has shown us how to build a team. He has shown us how to win a tournament. I think there is no harm in giving him the captaincy in one format. This will also relieve Virat Kohli of some pressure.”

The former wicket-keeper feels that Rohit with his experience of winning several multi-team tournaments will perform well under pressure if given India captaincy. Parthiv, who has played under both Rohit and Virat in the IPL, reckons the MI skipper knows how to build a team. He concludes by saying that Rohit should be given the captaincy armband before the T20 World Cup next year.

“With him (Rohit) winning so many tournaments, it will be interesting to see how he takes decisions under pressure. Mumbai Indians do not have a settled team every season, but Rohit Sharma has shown that he knows how to build players and show results. According to me for the T20 World Cup, if Rohit Sharma is fit to play, he should be given the captaincy ahead of the tournament,” Parthiv Patel added.

Currently, Rohit Sharma is recovering from the hamstring injury he suffered during the IPL and missed out from the limited-overs series in Australia. Virat Kohli will return home after the first Test in Adelaide to attend the birth of his child.

Also Read: ‘Did they ask ICC?’: Sunil Gavaskar Slams England For Use Of Coded Information Through Clipboards