Virat Kohli being replaced by Rohit Sharma as India’s new white-ball captain has garnered much attention with several current and former players commenting on the topic in the past few days. When Kohli had announced that he would relinquish the captaincy in the shortest format after the T20 World Cup, he had also mentioned that he’d continue to lead the team in Tests and One-Day Internationals. However, while announcing the Test squad for the South Africa tour, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) also announced Rohit Sharma as the new ODI captain, bringing an end to Kohli’s five-year reign as India’s limited-overs captain.
Weighing in on the debate, former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria sympathised with India’s Test skipper, saying that the BCCI was wrong in the manner they replaced Kohli, who he feels deserved more “respect” for the way he led the Indian team.
“Did the BCCI do the right thing with Kohli? I don’t think so. They did not give him respect. He has led India to 65 wins in ODIs, the fourth highest by any India skipper. The thing is why didn’t you inform someone whose record as captain isn’t bad at all. Second most runs as India ODI skipper. Based on his record, he deserved respect. Sure, he hasn’t won an ICC trophy as captain but the way he has led is phenomenal,” Kaneria said in a video on his YouTube channel.
“Sourav Ganguly is such a big name, a former captain. He should have communicated to Virat that we would like for Rohit to captain,” added the former Pakistan spinner.
Kaneria also said that the 33-year-old not scoring runs in heaps as he has done in the past, could have been another factor that led to the change in guard.
“Another thing that went against him was that Kohli was not scoring runs as big and fluently as he used to,” Kaneria said.
