Ahead of India’s first ODI versus South Africa, former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir said that captaincy was neither Virat Kohli‘s nor MS Dhoni’s “birthright” and the baton had to be passed at some point.
On Wednesday, in Paarl, for the first time since 2017, Virat Kohli will be taking the field only as a player and not captain. He gave up his T20I captaincy and was sacked as the ODI captain as well last year ahead of the South Africa tour.
Last week, he quit Test captain as well in a sudden announcement on his social media platforms. While Rohit Sharma was made the new white-ball skipper, he wasn’t fit for the South Africa tour and opener KL Rahul will take over the duties for the upcoming 3-ODI series.
In a discussion with Star Sports, Gautam Gambhir was asked how will Virat Kohli go about his business on the field now that he is no more the leader of the team.
The former KKR captain was blunt in his reply, and also invoked former India captain MS Dhoni’s example, saying that Dhoni too played under Kohli without any issues.
“What new do you want to see? Captaincy is not anyone’s birthright. People like MS Dhoni have given the captaincy baton to Virat Kohli, he has played under Virat Kohli as well. He has won three ICC trophies and four IPL trophies as well,” Gambhir said.
The cricketer-turned-commentator further explained that though Kohli isn’t the captain anymore, that doesn’t mean his intensity should drop and that he will look to contribute to the side in any way possible.
“I think Kohli should look to score runs and that is more important. When you dream of playing for India, you don’t dream to become a captain. You dream of winning games for India and nothing changes, except that you are not going out there to do the toss and set the field placement, but your energy and intensity should remain the same because it’s an honour playing for the country,” the former opener asserted.
While Kohli’s stats in Test cricket had suffered a dip, he remains a force in ODIs. Since the start of 2020, he averages 46 at a strike rate of 96 in 12 ODIs.
South Africa will be led by Temba Bavuma. Also, wicket-keeper batsman Quinton de Kock, who retired from Tests after the first Test, will return to the side to bolster the hosts batting.
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