Gautam Gambhir backs Rohit for Team India captaincy

Hyderabad: Rohit Sharma led Mumbai Indians to record-extending fifth title in the Indian Premier League in the edition held in UAE recently. The victory opened a debate on handing the captaincy of Team India to Rohit who seemed more successful with the captaincy than Kohli. For the record, Kohli and his team Royal Challengers Bangalore didn’t win a single title in the 13-year history.

Former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir was vocal about his support to the Mumbaiker. “When we pick the players for international cricket looking at their IPL form, then why can’t we pick the captaincy of the Indian team from IPL too. If we can’t pick captaincy, then IPL should not be a parameter for batting or bowling performances. The selection of T Natarajan, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav in the Indian team is also wrong as they were picked from IPL only,” said Gambhir.

Meanwhile, Aakash Chopra differed with Gambhir. “IPL is there. But the performance of international pedigree will be considered as the performance of international pedigree only and IPL will be seen in isolation. There is no problem if certain players who have done well for India, don’t perform in IPL. Virat Kohli as an Indian captain has done absolutely right in T20 cricket.”