Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are the two important pillars of Indian cricket. Currently, Virat Kohli is the captain of the Indian national cricket team across all formats. On the other hand, Rohit Sharma is the vice-captain of limited-overs.
However, Rohit has done incredibly well in Kohli’s absence. Under Rohit’s captaincy, Team India lifted Asia Cup and Nidahas Trophy. The Hitman has proved time and again that he is indeed a brilliant captaincy material.
Rohit Sharma led Mumbai Indians to the fifth IPL trophy. He is the most successful captain in the history of the IPL as he won 5 trophies. The veteran is also the only player to win six IPL trophies as a player.
On the contrary, Virat Kohli failed to create a spark in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 and ICC ODI World Cup 2019. Kohli is also yet to win a single trophy with Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma?
The ongoing debate over India’s T20 captaincy doesn’t seem to end anytime soon. Recently, cricket experts highlighted that Rohit Sharma is a better T20 captain. Even former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir opined the same.
Gambhir stressed the fact that Rohit Sharma is a better T20 captain than Virat Kohli. He further added that there is a huge captaincy difference between the two players. India’s wicket-keeper batsman Parthiv Patel also spoke on the same lines.
The veteran player said that Rohit is slightly a better captain than Virat Kohli because the former has won trophies than the latter. Parthiv who played under both Rohit and Kohli in the IPL added that Rohit is calm in pressure situations.
On the other hand, Kohli relies on others during crunch situations of the game according to Parthiv Patel. While the majority of them hailed Rohit Sharma’s captaincy, cricket expert Aakash Chopra defended Virat Kohli’s captaincy.
Heated argument between Gambhir and Chopra
Recently, Gambhir and Chopra were on a talk show where both discussed who should lead India in the shortest format. Meanwhile, the productive debate over India’s T20 captaincy turned out to be a heated argument between them.
While talking on the cricket show – ‘Cricket Connected’, Gambhir chose Rohit Sharma, Akash Chopra picked Virat Kohli. The former Indian opener Gambhir backed his claim by adding: “Virat Kohli is not a bad captain, but Rohit Sharma is better.”
Gambhir further added that there is a huge difference between the standard of captaincy. Meanwhile, Aakash Chopra said that a player’s form in IPL shouldn’t be the parameter for him to get a spot in the Indian team.
“When we choose players for international cricket on the basis of IPL, then why can’t we pick a T20I captain for India on the grounds of IPL performance? Why pick players from IPL?,” Gambhir replied.
