Following India’s run in the recently-concluded ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, there have been claims of a rift between Team India captain Virat Kohli and his deputy Rohit Sharma. Some members of the squad believe that Rohit was miffed with Kohli’s decision-making but the team management completely tarnished the claims and are miffed with such ‘rumours’.
While the above claims may have no story to tell, comparisons between both the players and their captaincy style have always been a hot topic of discussion. Kohli has a superb record for India across formats till now whereas Rohit has also ably fulfilled the captaincy role whenever the former opted for ‘rest’ (for example – the Nidahas Trophy 2018 in Sri Lanka and Asia Cup 2018 in the UAE).
Former Australian chinaman bowler, Brad Hogg, became the latest to join the bandwagon of comparing both Kohli and Rohit as captain. He picked the 32-year-old Rohit as skipper in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as he has won four titles for the Mumbai Indians (MI). The Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) is yet to get their hands on the coveted trophy.
“Rohit Sharma in the IPL as his team has been in the finals a lot more than Virat Kohli’s,” Brad Hogg was quoted as saying in his official YouTube Channel during a Question and Answer session.
However, Hogg went for Virat as the Indian cricket team skipper, simply because of his prowess to deliver from all the fronts. The retired Aussie cricketer also called Virat a great tactician and hailed him the fittest cricketer in Indian cricket at the moment. Virat took over the Test captaincy in late 2014 after MS Dhoni’s retirement from the format. In 2017, he became the skipper in all three formats.
“But, as far as the man to captain the Indian cricket team, it would be Virat Kohli. He leads from the front with the bat, in the field, and on the training track. He is the fittest Indian cricketer going around. But he’s also a very good tactician, but the way he conducts himself on and off the field has been exceptional over the last year,” he mentioned.
