Former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh feels it was an emotional decision to make Rohit Sharma the Test captain of the Indian cricket team when Virat Kohli decided to relinquish the position earlier this year. It was a sudden decision from Kohli to step down as India Test captain after the South Africa tour and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) took some time to announce Rohit as his successor after naming him the captain in white-ball formats earlier last year.
Yuvraj, who played under Rohit’s captaincy during his tenure at Mumbai Indians, said that he should have been named the captain in the white-ball cricket a while ago.
“Excellent leader. I played under him when I was playing for Mumbai Indians. Vey good thinker, very good captain. Rohit should have been the captain at least in the white-ball cricket a while ago. But since Virat was doing so well and the team was also doing well it wasn’t easy,” Yuvraj said in an exclusive interaction on Home of Heroes, Sports18’s newest offering.
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Rohit has proved his white-ball captaincy credentials in the Indian Premier League as he is the most successful captain in the tournament’s history by leading Mumbai Indians to record five titles.
However, Yuvraj believes that the 34-year-old Rohit should look after his body as he has been injury-prone in the last couple of years. The veteran southpaw said that the fitness will add pressure on the 34-year-old in the Test captaincy.
“I felt it was an emotional decision to make him a captain in Test cricket. When they made him captain it was announced subject to fitness. You cannot announce your Test captain subject to fitness. He is getting injured a lot. He is at that age where he must look after his body. It will add pressure to him on Test captaincy as well. It’s been only a couple of years since he started opening the innings in Test cricket. He has been playing well. Let the guy focus on his batting in Test cricket. I hope he enjoys, it’s not easy standing for 5 days in the park,” he added.
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The 40-year-old further said that wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant should have been named Rohit’s deputy in Test.
“I really felt that Rishabh Pant should have been the vice-captain. Lot of people still feel that he’s not matured enough, though. I felt that they could have minimized the burden on Rohit with just the ODI captaincy. Let’s see how much his body survives in Test cricket,” he added.
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