Outgoing head coach Ravi Shastri threw his support behind vice-captain Rohit Sharma. Perhaps confirming Virat Kohli’s successor as India’s T20 skipper. Rohit Sharma, he said, is a “very capable leader” who is almost ready to take over after the T20 World Cup.
By handily defeating Namibia by nine wickets in Dubai. Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli completed their respective tenures as head coach and T20I captain on a good note. Given the forthcoming twin World Cups, Rohit Sharma is anticipated to be the next captain. But no official confirmation from any squad member or the BCCI has yet been received.
“I think it’s not such a bad thing because of the bubble and the amount of cricket being played. The players need to be rotated around and given the space, they need to spend some time with their families, see their parents. As I said, when a guy doesn’t go home for six months, he might have his family with him, but if he’s got parents and other family and you don’t get a chance to see them, it’s not easy at all. So I think it’s not such a bad thing. I think in Rohit you’ve got a very capable guy, he’s won so many IPLs and he’s the vice-captain of this side. He’s ready in the wings to take that job.” Ravi Shastri said
Ravi Shastri
Despite their early withdrawal from the World Cup, Ravi Shastri feels India’s T20I team remains formidable. He urged his successor, Rahul Dravid, to put his plans into action and lead the squad forward.
“And as far as the T20 team goes, I think we’ll always have a strong team. We might have not won a World Cup but going forward you’ll continue to have a very strong team. Because the IPL throws a lot of young players into the mix. You know, Rahul will have his own ideas on how to take this team forward and I see it still being a very good team.” Shastri added
Apart from his batting achievements, Rohit Sharma is the most successful skipper in IPL history, having won five titles. He has also captained India in 19 Twenty20 Internationals, winning 15 and losing only four. His batting appears to improve when he is captain. As captain, the 34-year-old has scored 712 runs at an average of 41.88, over 9 points more than his entire total.
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