The Indian cricket team has landed in South Africa as little over a week remains for the start of the first Test in Centurion. For the last couple of weeks, the captaincy tussle in the Indian team has created a brawl as Virat Kohli and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have clashed in a battle of words. While BCCI has started to put ice on the hot issue, former players have now jumped in and asked Kohli to concentrate on cricket. A day after Kapil Dev’s comment, it’s another former India captain Sunil Gavaskar who has suggested Kohli to focus on his game.
“We may see the Virat from two years ago, slamming centuries after centuries. We have also seen that when Rohit Sharma was made captain of Mumbai Indians, he took those scores of 20, 30 and 40 runs and converted them into big scores. When you are captain, you play with a lot more responsibilities. Your shot selection gets better,” the 72-year-old former player said.
"You know you have to set an example and Mumbai Indians (MI) reaped the benefits by winning the title five times. It is possible to see Rohit score even more runs once he is the white-ball captain," the 1983 World Cup winner said.
Gavaskar also praised Kohli’s temperament as he believes that the captaincy burden has got the better of him. The Indian Test captain hasn’t scored an international hundred for more than two years as he waits to break Ponting’s tally of 71 international tons. Kohli is currently on 70 international hundreds, 30 tons shy of Sachin Tendulkar’s all-time record of 100 centuries.
Rohit Sharma promoted as the vice-captain of the Test side is out of the Test side due to injury, but is expected to be back for the ODI series starting on January 19. The Indian team will have its work cut out as India tries to win their first Test series in the rainbow nation. Team India will also have their eyes on important points in the World Test Championship (WTC) as they try to qualify for the 2023 finals.
