Vice Test Captain Ajinkya Rahane praised Team India’s captain Rohit Sharma, the latter asserts that Sharma not only offers liberty to the players but also backs them, which are the characteristics of a true leader, and he loves playing under him.Â
Rohit Sharma took over captaincy in February 2022, succeeding Virat Kohli, in anticipation of a two-match series against Sri Lanka, Sunil Gavaskar expressed admiration for his leadership skills, while Chetan Sharma, the Chairman of Selectors for India, mentioned their intention to develop upcoming captains under his guidance.
Sharma has been an accomplished captain in IPL history, winning five trophies under his leadership. Till now, Rohit has captained roughly 150 matches in the Indian Premier League. In terms of guiding the Indian team, the talismanic batter started his tenure as a full-time T20I skipper in a fashionable style by crushing New Zealand 3-0 in a three-match home series.
Rohit Sharma’s captaincy record in T20 matches is quite impressive, having led in a total of 182 games. Out of those, he has emerged victorious in 111 matches and suffered defeat in 67. In comparison, Virat Kohli, the captain of the Bangalore team, has won 94 out of his 190 T20 matches.
Apart from being an outstanding skipper, Sharma is also a phenomenal batter, in his 35 T20Is captaincy he has smacked 1,161 runs with eight half-centuries and two tons. Moreover, after securing a 3-0 series triumph against West Indies in February 2022, Rohit Sharma achieved a significant milestone as the first Indian captain to guide the team to three or more clean sweeps in T20I cricket.
However, Sharma failed to clinch a victory in the ICC Test Championship trophy, as they were defeated by Australia by 209 runs. Despite not being their inaugural appearance, India made it to the finals of the ICC World Test Championship in 2021 under the captaincy of Virat Kohli. Unfortunately, they faced defeat in that final as well. The last ICC trophy India won was under the leadership of MS Dhoni in 2013.
Siraj Can Be Considered As A Senior Bowler Says Rahane In The Absence Of Mohammad Shami
Mohammad Shami has been given time to recharge, in his absence, Mohammad Siraj will be the senior bowler, as stated by Rahane. The Vice Test Captain expressed that the upcoming match provides a valuable chance for the batsman who will be positioned at No. 3 and the fast bowler stepping in for Shami. Rahane highlighted Siraj’s seniority as a bowler and the experience of Jaydev and the other two players, acknowledging their recent strong performances. Thus, Rahane emphasized that this presents an opportunity for all the players to excel.
On speaking upon Shami, Rahane claims that he is one of the senior and outstanding bowlers for India and has been playing excellently for a long time, but he deserves a break, and this will offer a great opportunity for other players to step in and deliver a commendable performance.
In addition to Mohammad Siraj and Jaydev Unadkat, other players like Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini, and Mukesh Kumar have been included in the Test squad as additional options for pace bowling in the series against West Indies.
India will battle West Indies in a two-test-series match starting from 12th July onwards.
Official Test Squad for India against West Indies: Ajinkya Rahane (VC), Rohit Sharma (C), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan, KS Bharat, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja & Shardul Thakur Jaydev Unadkat, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar & Navdeep Saini
