Indian team have been reeling to qualify for the semi-finals after losing their first two games. A big win against Afghanistan hasn’t contributed much to the team when it comes to points table standings. While the team has been criticised for their failure to put up a fight against Pakistan and New Zealand, former England cricketer Monty Panesar feels Virat Kohli’s decision of leaving captaincy before the World Cup is the a big reason for the team’s off-colour performances.
“Things would have been different today”
“I don't want to blame Virat here. There are some players who were thinking that they want to replace Virat as the next captain. They want to be the next India captain. Virat made a big mistake announcing the decision ahead of the tournament that he will be giving up his s T20I captaincy after the World Cup. He should have played the tournament and then at the end of the tournament, whatever India's result was, announced that I am quitting T20I captaincy. Things would have been different today if Virat had done this,“ Panesar told Times of India.
Panesar who has played 50 Tests, 26 ODIs and 1 T20I said players will now look at themselves as the new captain of the team. This will shift their focus from the game to being the new captain of the team after the mega event.
“By announcing this beforehand, (the likes of) Rohit, Rishabh, and KL must be thinking of themselves as the nextT20I captain. There won't be any focus on the game then. Rather than focusing on the game, they must be thinking about the captaincy. So, Virat shouldn't have announced this because there are too many leaders in this team. He should have kept his cool, played the tournament, and then said 'I am going to hang up my T20I captaincy boots now'," the 39-year-old explained.
