Virat or Rohit.. the better captain.

Source- Google images.

Rohit Sharma, India’s very own ‘Hitman’ at the top of the order, started playing for team India ODI and T20 side from 2007. This, if you recollect, was the same year when Dhoni was handed over the reins of captaincy of the Indian T20 Cricket team. The then Indian team under Dhoni ushered in an era of cricketers who were young, ambitious, hungry, and most importantly non regulars to the side. Back then, Rohit Sharma was all of 20 years old, and he walked out along side his captain Dhoni (who was 26 years old) and his young brigade. This team, which was sent for the first International T20 World Cup, did not have one single player above thirty. The oldest member in this team was Ajit Agarkar, who was 29. Interestingly, back then Virat Kohli had not yet played for India, while Rohit had already broken through the India Senior ODI and T20 team. Virat Kohli of course, made his India ODI debut, the next year against Sri Lanka, and thereafter made his T20 debut for the national side as late as 2010!! Resume wise, if I may interpret, Rohit in T20 has 3 years additional prior experience to Virat.

Rohit, did not make a huge impact when he came into the scene. He was dropped in 2011, after a series of failures to convert starts. On one hand, he was compared to be the next best thing to Tendulkar that emerged out of the Bombay bastion. His talent was raw, and was for all to see. On the other hand, he would squander away one chance after the other, in converting starts to bigger scores. Thereby frustrating the viewers as well as the selectors.

It was only in the Champions Trophy in 2013, when he was picked again, this time as an opener. This is when his cricketing career took a strategic turn, and ever since that he has never looked back.

Source- ESPN Cricinfo

It is interesting to note here that Rohit who has played 95 T20 matches, has played around 25 more matches than Virat Kolhi, who has played 70 T20 matches. In fact, amongst the present crop of players who represent India in T20, Rohit and Dhoni remain the only players who have played the 2007 T20 world cup.

Virat Kohli, the greatest talent that India has produced post Tendulkar, at present, captains all the three formats for the Indian men’s cricket team. As a batsman he is a legend like Tendulkar was a pre 2010. But unlike Tendulkar, Virat has been a very successful captain. Captaincy came to him as a gift though, when in 2014, after India winning the Test championship and being ranked numero uno, Dhoni at 33 years retired from Test matches, to everyone’s surprise and handed over the captaincy to Virat who was at the time his deputy.

Source- Cricinfo

Dhoni, went on to play only ODI and T20 cricket, and it became apparent that Virat will take over in all formats at some point of time. To be fair, that perhaps was the correct decision and in terms of the wins that India has had under Virat Kohli, it has taken the team from being a dark horse or an under dog to teams like Australia, South Africa and England, to becoming a force to reckon with. Today India is perhaps the most consistent side to play the game across formats.

However, there has also been some criticism on how they have failed to win multilateral tournaments, after being in very strong positions. Some would say that India has taken over the tag of chokers from South Africa, and although at times I feel its too early to say that, but the trend for the past 4 years has been very alarming.

Rohit, on the other hand, has made all the right notes and points to suggest that he has a good head on his shoulders. Not so long ago, his suggestion of bringing Dhoni at no.4, could have solved the issue for India if his opinion was seriously taken. It could have resulted in India sending a settled side into the World Cup this year. Although Rohit’s point on Dhoni did not go in sync with the management or Virat, his sharp cricketing thinking was there for all of us to see.

Rohit Sharma, continues to rake in the runs in white ball cricket, ever since his return in 2013. He has the record for the highest individual score in ODI cricket (264), has the highest number of double centuries in ODI (3), the fastest century in T20 cricket (35 balls), record number of hundreds in T20 (4), the best strike rate of scoring centuries (per 5.55 innings) amongst all openers in the history of ODI cricket, etc, etc. Recently, he also bagged the record of scoring the highest number of centuries in a single world cup (5).

It is can be argued that the decision to bring Kolhi in as captain, after Dhoni, was a pure cricketing decision. However, it is a fact that people in the marketing space consider Virat as a blue eyed boy, while Rohit, even today, despite his exploits has hardly bagged any lucrative endorsements. Even RL Rahul appear to have better endorsements than Rohit!! Kohli with his exeburance of passion and aggression make him a better marketing tool than Rohit who appears more calm and flat. Perhaps, the decision to delay looking at Rohit as a permanent captain in white ball cricket, has been influenced by external factors beyond the cricketing boundaries, metaphorically speaking.

This year when he won the IPL for Mumbai, he added one more feather to his cap as being the only captain to have won 4 editions. Not only has he won the tournament a record number of times, he also showed us how astute he has been in bringing up good talent. He has made good team selections, and not to forget, how calm he has been during stressful situations.

Source- ESPN Cricinfo

Interestingly, his record as a captain in International cricket has been exemplary. He has not just won 80% of the matches (ODI and T20) but has also won two multinational silverware, in the form of the Nidihas trophy and the Asia Cup in the recent past.

In fact, such has been the dismal form of team India in winning multilateral tournaments, and in ICC events, that these silverware that Rohit has won, are possibly the only ones that India has won post 2015. It must be said that having Rohit as a stand by skipper to Virat has showed to us that he definitely has the knack of winning as a captain, and of managing and marshalling his resources pretty well. It is a mystery why he has not yet been handed over a permanent captaincy role at least in one of the formats. The most likely format appears to be the T20 format. In fact, if the rumours which are going around are correct, Rohit might not need to wait for a long time to take over the captaincy role from Virat.

Source- ESPN Cricinfo

If we are to prepare the side well for the coming T20 World Cup, the first and immediate step should be to give Rohit a permanent run as a captain. After all, he has played in 15 T20 matches as the captain of the side, and has managed to win 12 out of them. This is only 3 wins less than what Kohli has managed, and in 10 matches fewer than what Kohli has played as captain!!

Also, with the team management undergoing a shuffle, it feels like the correct time to give this hand over to the Hitman. Now with the T20 World Cup almost a year away, it remains to be seen whether Kohli will chose to walk with his team as a captain or walk on to the field for his country. Perhaps that is what Rohit was trying to imply after all, ‘I dont just walk out for my team, I walk out for my country’.