Sanjay Manjrekar opens up ahead of India’s clash with Namibia

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has reckoned that Virat Kohli must offer India’s leadership to Rohit Sharma as early as the team’s clash against Namibia on November 8. India have been officially knocked out of the T20 World Cup, with their November 8 fixture against the Gerhard Erasmus side being a dead-rubber.

Manjrekar’s comments come in the backdrop of the encounter being Virat Kohli’s last as India T20I skipper, as he announced earlier his decision to step down from the position after the ongoing World Cup. Ever since then, Rohit Sharma has been billed as the frontrunner to take over the captaincy duties from Kohli. However, an official word in this regard is awaited.

In an interaction with Dafa News during the build-up to India’s final Super12 game, Manjrekar noted: “If Virat Kohli wants to sort of start a new trend, the inevitable future in T20 cricket, he could maybe offer the leadership straightaway to Rohit Sharma in this final game. Then Rohit Sharma may not be rested and play as captain.”

Kohli, who led India for the first time in the shortest format in 2017, will be playing his 50th T20I as the skipper, having won 29 out of those thus far. Even as India continued to dominate every team they faced in the bilateral series, an ICC trophy has eluded them.

The fixture will also mark an end to Ravi Shastri’s tenure as India’s head coach, as he conveyed to the BCCI earlier about the T20 World Cup being his last assignment with the team.

Former India opener Aakash Chopra also opened up on Shastri’s tenure, while he termed the T20 World Cup an “extremely disappointing campaign” for Kohli and his men.

“This is where one story is ending. It is Virat Kohli’s first and last T20 World Cup as captain, he will not be seen again as a captain in the shortest format. Virat and Ravi Shastri’s pairing is also finishing here. It was an extremely disappointing campaign for Virat Kohli as a captain.”

Speaking of Shastri, he said: “He will not be seen as the Indian coach hereafter. If you talk about World Cups or ICC events, you could have won at least one of the three trophies, whether it was the 2019 World Cup or the ICC mace or this World Cup. If you play three World Cups and don’t win even one of them and you don’t even qualify in one, it might remain as a thorn in his [Shastri’s] mind.”