Rohit Sharma-led Team India suffered a 209-run defeat at the hands of Australia in the World Test Championship (WTC) final raising question marks on the Indian captain’s future, particularly in red-ball cricket.
The Indian team’s next assignment is a two-match Test series against West Indies next month, it will be the first series for India in the WTC 2023-25 cycle, and having finished runners-up in both the previous cycles, the number 1 ranked Test team will certainly fancy their chances to reach yet another final.
However, by the time the WTC cycle 2023-25 comes to an end, Rohit will be 38, furthermore, six members of India’s playing eleven during the recently concluded WTC final against Australia were aged 34 or above, including Rohit.
Former Indian opener and selector Devang Gandhi feels that the selectors need to have a chat with Rohit, who is entering the fag end of his career to chart a way forward for Indian cricket.
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“That discussion (on Rohit continuing to captain India in Tests), the selectors need to have among themselves. So, two years hence, whether Rohit is going to be a part of the team as the captain, I don’t know. They need to have a word with Rohit and chart a course for the Indian team on how they want to go ahead (in terms of Test captaincy),” Gandhi told IANS.
With the upcoming ODI World Cup being hosted in India, the ‘Hitman’ is likely to lead India in the 50-overs format but with Hardik Pandya leading the T20I side, it remains to be seen what the selectors have in mind for Rohit.
Gandhi feels that the Indian team could look at short-term alternatives in red-ball cricket, interim captaincy could be handed to Ajinkya Rahane who led India previously during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2021 with much success, or even Ravichandran Ashwin could be considered.
“It could be an interim thing, to be honest. Because by chance, if Rohit is not going to lead the side, then who possibly is going to lead the team? Then, that (giving captaincy to either Rahane or Ashwin) can be an interim solution and, in the process, you can groom someone else who can be a future captain under these guys,” he added.
With split captaincy becoming more and more prevalent, both Australia and England have reaped rewards by splitting their captaincy duties among two players, Gandhi added that it is the correct way forward.
“We already have that in place – Hardik doing in T20Is while Rohit is doing that in Tests and ODIs. I won’t be surprised if that happens in future,” the 51-year-old stated.
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