Throwback: When Virat Kohli had seen a future Team India captain in Rohit Sharma
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BCCI announced Rohit Sharma as the new Indian ODI captain, replacing Virat Kohli. Back in 2013, Kohli had seen a future Indian captain in Rohit.
BCCI, on Wednesday (December 8), announced Rohit Sharma as the new Indian ODI captain, replacing Virat Kohli. Hitman was being considered for the post as soon as he succeeded Kohli as the T20I captain post the World Cup in the UAE.
Prior to the T20 WC, Kohli had announced that he would step aside as the captain in the shortest format but continue to lead in Tests and ODIs. However, BCCI named Rohit as the only white-ball captain going forward whereas Kohli will continue to call the shots in Tests.
Not many know that during an event in 2013, Kohli had stated that he sees a future Team India captain in Rohit.
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Back then, Kohli had stated, "Rohit has a tremendous cricketing brain. I often take his advice during matches. He has shown his capability while leading Mumbai Indians in the IPL." The right-hander had shared his views when asked about who can lead the team apart from him and MS Dhoni, who was the Indian captain at that time.
It is to be noted that Rohit became a part of India's leadership group in 2017, when he was named Kohli's deputy in the shorter formats. Now being appointed as India's limited-overs captain, the onus is on Rohit to take the team forward and lead them to ICC titles (which has been missing in India's cabinet since 2013).
Talking about Kohli's run as ODI and T20I captain, India won bilateral T20Is in SENA countries and played the final and semi-finals of the 2017 Champions Trophy and 2019 ODI WC, respectively, but couldn't end their ICC-title drought.