With Virat Kohli announcing to step down from the captaincy of the T20I after the T20 world cups. Debate is going on as to who will replace him. Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar has named his choice for the player who can be groomed to take over the India captaincy in the future.
Virat Kohli announced on Thursday that he will give up India’s T20 International captaincy after the T20 World Cup that starts in the United Arab Emirates next month.
“I feel I need to give myself space to be fully ready to lead the Indian team in Test and ODI cricket,” Kohli said on Twitter.
“Understanding workload is a very important thing and considering my immense workload over the last 8-9 years playing all three formats and captaining regularly for last five to six years, I feel I need to give myself space to be fully ready to lead the Indian team in Test and ODI cricket,” added the 32-year-old.
Virat Kohli’s decision to step down as India’s T20I captain after the ICC T20 World Cup in the UAE and Oman, scheduled to be held from October 17 to November 14, has surprised many cricket fans. The move has also triggered speculation over who would take over from Kohli as India’s skipper in the shortest format of the game. While Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma, 34, is among the favourites for the job, there is also discussion over which players could be groomed to take over the mantle of captaincy in the long term.
According to former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, KL Rahul is one player who can be given more responsibility in the national team in order to pave the way for him to take over the captaincy in the future.
“If you are thinking of a new captain, I think KL Rahul can be looked at. His performance has been very good. Even now in England, his batting was very good. He has been performing well in IPL and 50-overs cricket as well at the international stage. I think he can be made the vice-captain,” Gavaskar told Sports Tak.
“He has shown very impressive leadership playing in the IPL. He hasn’t let the burden of captaincy affect his batting,” added Gavaskar.
The 29-year-old Rahul, who made his international debut in the Boxing Day Test against Australia in 2014, has played 40 Tests, 38 ODIs, and 48 T20Is for India.
He also captains Punjab Kings in the IPL. He had represented Royal Challengers Bangalore and SunRisers Hyderabad in the tournament before moving to Punjab Kings in 2018.
Let’s look at the captaincy records of Virat Kohli in T20I.
Virat Kohli has led the Indian side for 45 matches from which he has managed to win 27 of them. With a win percentage of over 65% which is pretty high if you compare it with Dhoni’s 59%.
As a batsman while captaincy, he has scored 1502 runs with an average of 48.45. Which is again extraordinary. The only finch is above him with 1589 runs but the run rate is not as good as Virat’s.
So, who do you feel will replace Virat? Let us know what you think in the comment section.
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