Rohit Sharma L and Virat Kohli. Picture Credit: Twitter/@BCCI
Rohit Sharma has started his full-time captaincy tenure with a bang. He has led India in 14 games across formats at home and has won every single one of them. It started with the T20I series against New Zealand and ended with two Tests against Sri Lanka. There was never a doubt about Rohit's leadership skills in the white-ball game with five IPL trophies in the bag for him. But he was yet to prove his mettle as a red-ball skipper.
And he did it in style. Sharma led India to two massive victories against Sri Lanka. In the first Test, India beat Sri Lanka by an innings and 238 runs while in the second game, they won by 238 runs. Although there was not a big threat from Sri Lanka in both the games, Sharma showed immense maturity to make the right calls on the field. His bowling changes, field placements, everything fell in the right place.
Sharma has always been a tactically strong captain and this home season was a testimony of that. While Rohit has already proved his supremacy in white-ball cricket, he has a big challenge of filling in the shoes of Virat Kohli. However, looking at his start, former Indian cricketer Wasim Jaffer has claimed that Rohit can go on to become a better Test captain than Kohli.
“Rohit Sharma can become a better Test captain than Virat Kohli. Don’t know how many Tests he will captain, but tactically I feel he is one of the best captains and we are seeing the results of how they have whitewashed each series. It feels like the captaincy has come in the hands of the right captain,” Jaffer told ESPNCricinfo after India’s series win over Sri Lanka.
Stiff challenge for Sharma!
There is no doubt Rohit Sharma is a great leader but he still has a lot left to prove in Test cricket. Even though Kohli did not bring an ICC title for India, his numbers as a Test captain are phenomenal. Kohli is the most successful Indian Test captain. He has 40 wins from 68 games. India remained undefeated at home under Kohli. Apart from home dominance, India excelled in overseas countries. He has 16 wins out of 37 games on foreign soil.