Former Indian opening batter, Gautam Gambhir opines that now is the high time for Virat Kohli to shift his focus completely on his batt, in the upcoming ODI series against South Africa, after resigning as the Test skipper on Saturday. It will be Kohli’s first assignment under a different captain after the shocking decision will be his first after relinquishing the leadership role across all formats and tournaments.
Virat Kohli will be playing under the captaincy of the stand-in skipper KL Rahul, who will be leading the ODI squad in the absence of Rohit Sharma. While speaking on Star Sports’ show Game Plan, Guatm Gambhir, when asked if one can expect to see something new from 33-year-old Kohli, said nothing changes for players.
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Gautam Gambhir explained, “What news 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. 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.”
He also added, “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 honor playing for the country.”
Cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir also spoke about Virat Kohli’s role in the team from here on, saying it’s barely to change.
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Elaborating the same, Gautam Gambir said, “Batting at No. 3, scoring lots and lots of runs and probably anchoring the innings as well. When Rohit Sharma comes in with KL Rahul at the top of the order, Kohli’s role doesn’t change one bit. As I just mentioned apart from not going for the toss and setting the field placements, rest everything remains the same. He has got to bat at No.3, he has got to score a lot of runs in white-ball cricket. So I am sure, I think nothing changes.”
