Should Rohit Sharma continue to lead India in T20Is? Ex-BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has his say

There were speculations that India’s all-format captain Rohit Sharma could return to the T20 format after a year, however, it wasn’t to be as both he and Virat Kohli sought rest from the white-ball leg of the South Africa tour. However, several reports suggest that Rohit will captain the team in the T20 World Cup next year, despite not playing the format at the highest level since the tournament last year in November.

With Hardik Pandya leading the side in T20Is since the T20 World Cup last year, it seemed like Rohit and Kohli were slowly being phased out of the format and the newer generation was being preferred in the shortest format. But the World Cup performance could weigh in heavily come the T20 World Cup next year in the Caribbean and the USA. Former India captain and erstwhile BCCI president Sourav Ganguly too was in favour of Rohit captaining the team in the tournament next year.

Speaking to the reporters at an event in Kolkata, Ganguly said, “Once Rohit is back playing all formats, he should be the captain of India, because he has done so well in the World Cup.” Further elaborating on his point, Ganguly said that both Kohli and Rohit are an integral part of the side given how they played in the recently concluded World Cup.

With Hardik Pandya not fit, Suryakumar Yadav was handed the reigns for the team in the ongoing T20 series against Australia and will continue to lead in South Africa as well. The youngsters like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Rinku Singh have showcased their talent but Ganguly believed that World Cup pressure is different and India will need experience there.

“World Cups are different than a bilateral series because the pressures are different. They have been exceptional this World Cup and hopefully six-seven months down the line in the West Indies they will be again at their best,” Ganguly further said.

Ganguly also advocated the rest for both Rohit and Kohli saying that a T20 series three days after a demanding World Cup doesn’t make sense and India need both of them raring to go in the Test matches.

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