Former India captain and the President of the Board Of Control For Cricket In India (BCCI) has admitted in a conversation that Rohit Sharma reluctantly took over the captaincy in the Test format after Virat Kohli stepped down.
It all started after the ICC T20 World Cup 2021, where India had a disastrous campaign. Kohli had moved away from the T20I captaincy and had intended to continue as the leader in the ODI and the Test formats.
But after an ugly press conference admission ahead of the India vs South Africa Test series in South Africa, Kohli made it clear to everyone that BCCI had asked Rohit Sharma to take over the reins of the ODI team.
Post that, Kohli left the Test captaincy after a 1-2 loss at the hands of the Proteas. Rohit Sharma eventually became the all-format captain of India.
“We always wanted Virat to be captain, but he did not want to continue. And that’s what it was. And then obviously Rohit came in, he was captaining Mumbai Indians. He was captaining 50-over T20. We needed a test captain because Virat Kohli was Test captain by then and he finished in South Africa. I always believed that Rohit was a very good captain. So obviously the request from the board, I went to him that you know you should captain in test matches. He was reluctant because of workload,” said Sourav Ganguly in a conversation with news agency, PTI.
“But then I remember having a conversation with him that, you don’t want to finish your career without captaining Indian test matches. So that struck a chord with him, and then he took a couple of days and then he agreed. He’s a very adjustable person, very friendly person, if you have conversations with him, he’ll agree and accept and do things. And why wouldn’t anybody want to be in this test game?,” Ganguly also said.
Rohit Sharma won 2 ICC titles for India
One of the most successful captains of Team India, Rohit Sharma helped India lift the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 and the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. It was his astute leadership that helped India break their trophyless sojourn in ICC events since 2013.
Both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who are two doyens of Indian cricket, have called it quits from the T20I and the Test format. They will be continuing to represent India in the ODI format.
