At The Oval, where India lost the 2023 World Test Championship Final to Australia, six members of India’s playing eleven were aged 34 or above, including captain Rohit Sharma.
Since the inception of the World Test Championship cycle in 2019, India have been runners-up on both occasions, first under the leadership of Virat Kohli and now under Rohit’s captaincy.
With India set to begin their next cycle of the WTC through the two-match Test series against West Indies in Dominica and Trinidad & Tobago from July 12, it also raises queries over Rohit leading India throughout the two-year cycle, as by the time 2025 WTC Final arrives, he will be 38.
Devang Gandhi, the former India opener, and national selector, feels it is the responsibility of the current selection committee to have a word with Rohit about his future as Test captain.
“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.
Since Rohit took over as India’s Test captain from the home series against Sri Lanka in March 2022, the side has played 10 Tests, seven of which featured him with the record being four wins, a draw and two losses. Moreover, in this period, Rohit missed three matches – one against England due to Covid-19 and two against Bangladesh due to left thumb injury.
If Rohit is not certain to captain India in Tests against West Indies and beyond, then can India turn towards someone like Ajinkya Rahane, who was the skipper during unforgettable 2-1 Border-Gavaskar Trophy triumph in Australia in 2021, or even someone like Ravichandran Ashwin, to fill in the leadership position till a suitable youngster is groomed to be the future Test skipper?
“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,” said Gandhi.
In the next three years, with the hectic volume of cricket around, split captaincy could be the norm, especially with a side like England benefitting from it in recent few years. “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,” he concluded.
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