In the rescheduled fifth Test against England, Jasprit Bumrah took over as the captain of the Indian cricket team after Rohit Sharma was ruled out due to Covid-19. Meanwhile, in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Virat Kohli returned as the captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the absence of Faf du Plessis, who has been struggling with fitness issues.
Under Virat Kohli’s captaincy, RCB has won two matches but suffered a defeat against the Kolkata Knight Riders. Kohli’s return as captain of RCB was a pleasant surprise for fans and former cricketers, as he had stepped down as captain of the team after the 2021 edition of the tournament. Furthermore, in 2021, Kohli had given up his captaincy role in T20Is and was subsequently removed as skipper in ODIs. Subsequently, in January 2022, he also resigned as the Test captain.
With Virat Kohli returning to the leadership role to fill in for Du Plessis, former India head coach Ravi Shastri was asked if Kohli could lead the team in international matches if the regular captain is unavailable. Shastri recalled the rescheduled fifth Test against England, where Bumrah was made captain after Rohit’s injury, and said that if he were still the coach, he would recommend Kohli’s name for captaincy in the game.
Shastri: Virat Kohli leads the team:
Shastri stated that it would have been fair for Kohli to lead the team in that match, as he was part of the team that was leading the series 2-1 at the time, and he could have gotten the best out of the players. When asked if Kohli would have any qualms about leading the team again, Shastri said that leading the country is an “honor.”
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