Xtra Time Web Desk : Team India will take on South Africa in the first of the three match ODI series in Paarl starting from Wednesday. And this would be the first time in over 5 years that former skipper Virat Kohli would be playing under a different captain in KL Rahul. Many cricket experts around the country have been sceptical about the above matter, but not Gautam Gambhir.
The former World Cup winning Team India opener has put forward his opinion on the captaincy debate in a straight forward manner without mincing his words.
Talking about captaincy in a Star Sports show called Game Plan, Gambhir said, “What new do you want to see? Captaincy is not anyone’s birthright. People like MS Dhoni have given the captaincy baton to Virat Kohli, he has played under Virat Kohli as well. He has won three ICC trophies and four IPL trophies as well. I think Kohli should look to score runs and that is more important. When you dream of playing for India, you don’t dream to become a captain. You dream of winning games for India and nothing changes, except that you are not going out there to do the toss and set the field placement, but your energy and intensity should remain the same because it’s an honor playing for the country,”
Stating about Kohli’s role in the team, the former Delhi batter added, “Exactly the same what he had when he was captaining the side. Batting at No. 3, scoring lots and lots of runs and probably anchoring the innings as well. When Rohit Sharma comes in with KL Rahul at the top of the order, Kohli’s role doesn’t change one bit. As I just mentioned apart from not going for the toss and setting the field placements, rest everything remains the same. He has got to bat at No.3, he has got to score a lot of runs in white-ball cricket. So I am sure, I think nothing changes.”
Team India will be looking to bounce back and win the ODI series in the Rainbow Nation after an unexpected 2-1 Test series against Proteas.