Former India cricketer Parthiv Patel weighed in on the Rohit Sharma-Virat Kohli captaincy debate after announcing his international retirement on Wednesday. Parthiv feels Rohit should lead India in the upcoming ICC T20I World Cup.
During an interaction on Sports Tak, Parthiv said: “According to me for the T20 World Cup, if Rohit Sharma is fit to play, he should be given the captaincy ahead of the tournament.”
Hailing Rohit, Parthiv said that the Mumbai Indians skipper knows how to build a team and win tournaments. He also reckoned there is no harm in relieving Kohli of captaincy from one of the formats.
“Rohit Sharma has shown us how to build a team. He has shown us how to win a tournament. I think there is no harm in giving him the captaincy in one format. This will also relieve Virat Kohli of some pressure,” he added.
“With him (Rohit) winning so many tournaments, it will be interesting to see how he takes decisions under pressure. Mumbai Indians does not have a settled team every season, but Rohit Sharma has shown that he knows how to build players and show results,” he added further.
The Gujarat batsman also reckoned that the captaincy debate should not create a rivalry between the two players but also said that this is being discussed because there are options.
“The debate should not create a rivalry between the two (Rohit and Virat), but the reason we are discussing this question is that India has options (in captaincy). If there were no options then there would be no comparisons. The IPL has given a platform to both the players and therefore the comparison between their captaincies will be there,” he added.
While Kohli would leave Australia after the first Test at Adelaide, Rohit – who is recovering from a hamstring injury – would also miss the red-ball series.