Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir has backed swashbuckling opener Rohit Sharma to take over the charge of Team India in T20Is after Virat Kohli‘s relinquishment from the captaincy position. The ongoing T20 World Cup is the last assignment for Kohli as India’s T20I captain and he will lead the team last time on Monday against Namibia in the last match of the Super 12 stage.
India miss out on the semifinals spot after a horror start to the campaign with back-to-back defeats against Pakistan and New Zealand. Kohli and Co. bounced back in the tournament with back-to-back massive wins over Afghanistan and Scotland but it was too late for them as New Zealand sealed a place in the semis with four wins out of five matches.
This is the first time since the 2012 T20 World Cup, when India failed to reach the knockout stage of an ICC tournament.
Gambhir is hopeful of Rahul Dravid, who is the new head coach of India, and Rohit to take the Indian team forward and win an ICC tournament
“Looking forward to it (Dravid’s tenure as coach). India will have a new captain as well and I hope Rohit Sharma gets it because 5 IPL titles, what more do you want from someone? The most successful captain in the history of the IPL and hopefully he and Rahul Dravid can take Indian cricket forward. Probably can win an ICC tournament as well. It’s been a long time now, it’s been 14-15 years we haven’t won a T20 tournament," Gambhir said.
Dravid’s first big assignment as a head coach will come next year during the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia.
Gambhir wants Dravid to create a new template with Rohit to carry forward the Indian team in the T20 format which England have done.
“Hopefully, Rohit and Rahul can take Indian cricket forward and probably can create a template, the way they want to go about in the T20 format. I hope they go about it same England goes because you have got the ability to do it," Gambhir added.
The veteran opener feels that India have enough firepower in their batting line-up to play the same brand of cricket as England.
“Sometimes, if you ask a team like New Zealand to do it, they might not be able to do it because they have not got enough firepower but with people like Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya, they have the ability to be fearless," he said.
Gambhir further said people have to support that template even if India fail to succeed in the initial phase.
“The responsibility will not only be on Rahul Dravid and whoever the new captain is but the experts, the media and the selectors to let them go out and play that way. It’s easy to say standing here that we should play that way but it’s important to back them even if they fail or don’t perform.
“We have got to realise that all of us need to support that template," he added.
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