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The lid on the rumors surrounding the captaincy of the Indian cricket teams T20I squad was lifted on November 9 as Rohit Sharma was appointed as the successor to Virat Kohli in the shorter format. The Indian opener will take charge of the side in the upcoming home series against New Zealand. Meanwhile, former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi has given his verdict on the latest saga surrounding the captaincy and also advised Kohli to leave the leadership role.
Afridi who represented Pakistan on 99 occasions in T20Is told Hindustan Times, "I think Virat should take the decision to continue as only a player. There will be relatively less pressure; he has played plenty of cricket too. He will enjoy his cricket and batting because captaining a team is not easy, especially in countries like India and Pakistan. As long as you are captaining well, things go smooth."
While Kohli has a proven track record in the format with 30 wins from 50 games, question marks have been raised regarding his stint as captain. Failing to win on bigger stages and missing out on trophies has been the Achilles heel for the Delhi-born player. He suggests, leaving the captaincy would ease the pressure on him and that would result in the long run.
Captaining a country like India or Pakistan is not easy as there are huge expectations from fans. The margin for error is minimum and one loss could result in widespread criticism. Things have gone bad to worse for Kohli in recent times as he also left the captaincy of Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) prior to the start of second phase of the season.
Next week will mark the second anniversary of the 33-year-old’s last international hundred. Since the 136-run knock against Bangladesh at Eden Gardens, the veteran Indian batter hasn’t added to his 70 triple-figure knocks. Things won’t get any better for him as he has been rested for the upcoming T20I series against New Zealand and the first Test against New Zealand in Kanpur. The former World Cup-winner will return to the team as captain of the side in the Mumbai Test starting December 3.
