Real challenge for captain Rohit Sharma is to stay fit: Ajit Agarkar

Rohit Sharma is all set to lead Team India for the first time as a full-time ODI skipper during the upcoming home limited-overs series against the West Indies starting February 6. He was appointed as the captain in the 50-over format after Virat Kohli was sacked by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) back in December i.e. prior to the Indian team’s departure to South Africa.

As Rohit gears up for his first stint as India’s full-time One Day skipper, former all-rounder Ajit Agarkar has come forward and explained the biggest challenge that he would be facing while at the helm. At the same time, he also made it clear that the problem he would be facing has been the strengths of his predecessors MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli.

Rohit can actually fly as captain, says Agarkar

“I think it’s a good thing and the right thing to do – to have one captain for white-ball format and now Rohit actually can fly. So, the challenge for Rohit Sharma – in my opinion – is to stay fit and play everything that is there, from now to the World Cup in white-ball cricket, because you want the captain – that was one of Virat Kohli’s strengths or MS Dhoni before that, they rarely missed games, and both were very fit,” said Ajit Agarkar while speaking on the Star Sports’ show Gameplan.

Fitness is the key reason why MS Dhoni could lead the Indian team for nearly a decade while Kohli could succeed in taking them to unattained heights in the longest format during his seven-year captaincy tenure. Rohit is reportedly expected to succeed Virat in Test cricket as well and should that happen, he would be the Men In Blue’s all-format captain and need to take his fitness to the next level in order to be available for selection across formats.

The elegant opener had missed the bilateral series against South Africa citing an injury as his white-ball deputy KL Rahul led the Indian team in the three-match ODI series where the visitors went on to suffer a 0-3 whitewash.