After a terrible run in the recently passed WTC Final 2023, there have been a lot of talks going around that Virat Kohli should replace Rohit Sharma as a skipper in the longest format of the game. Social media has witnessed many tweets and posts that said either Virat Kohli or Ravichandran Ashwin should replace Rohit in the red ball format as India’s numbers are not impressive under the leadership of the current skipper.
Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra also spoke about the same and denied all the rumors of Kohli leading team India again. “He can be made but he won't be and maybe that's the right thing as well because no one asked him to leave Test captaincy. This thing has been cleared multiple times from different quarters that no one said that he won't remain the Test captain," said the former India opener on his YouTube channel.
The 34-year-old earlier stepped down from India’s Test captaincy after the South Africa tour in 2022 where the side lost Test series 2-1. Kohli was evidently one of the most successful Indian Test skippers as under his leadership, the asian team won 40 matches in 68 Tests. But eventually, because of a rift between Kohli and the board, he resigned from the leadership role.
“In fact, when he took this decision that he won't remain the captain, the BCCI was taken aback slightly that what really happened, that they will have to search for a captain. So that was a slightly different thing, but not now," Chopra added.
The Indian team previously lost the WTC 2023 final against Australia as Pat Cummins’ men won the game by a huge margin of 209 runs. For India, the series against West Indies is on the card and it will be interesting to see how Rohit leads his team in whites. The Indian team will play in two Tests, three One-Day-Internationals (ODIs), and a five-match T20 International series, starting from July 12.