Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting has backed Rohit Sharma to take over as India’s Test captain, saying he has an impeccable report as a frontrunner. Rohit Sharma has been on prime of his recreation, has led India on few events: Ricky Ponting (Reuters Photo)HIGHLIGHTSRicky Ponting backs Rohit Sharma to switch Virat Kohli as India Test captainRohit is a profitable chief, has led India on few events: PontingRohit could be main India in upcoming white-ball collection vs West IndiesLegendary Australian cricketer Ricky Pointing has thrown his help behind Rohit Sharma to take over as India’s Test captain, saying his report as a frontrunner is impeccable. Ponting additionally revealed it was him who steered Rohit to steer the Mumbai Indians when he needed to step down from that position after detached kind in 2013.
Earlier this month, Kohli stepped down because the Test skipper a day after India suffered a 1-2 collection defeat in opposition to South Africa within the three-match collection. Last 12 months, the 33-year-old additionally stepped down as T20I captain after which he was eliminated because the ODI chief after the selectors needed one chief for white-ball codecs.”I was at Mumbai Indians when Rohit Sharma took over the captaincy there. I was bought in the auction to be their captain and unfortunately, I wasn’t playing well enough after the first few games to keep myself in the team, so I had to make room for another international player to come into the side,” the ICC web site quoted Ponting as saying.”The owners and the team management wanted to know who I thought would be the appropriate person to take over the leadership at the Mumbai Indians. There were a few names thrown around between owners and the other coaches but it was really clear to me that there was only one guy that could lead the team – he was a young guy and his name happened to be Rohit Sharma,” he added.Rohit had missed the collection in opposition to South Africa resulting from a hamstring difficulty however he has now recovered and could be main the facet within the upcoming white-ball collection in opposition to West Indies.”I think the proof is in the pudding with what he has done for the Mumbai Indians from that moment on. He has been a very successful leader there and has been when he has led India on a few occasions as well. If I go back to what I said at the start about being on top of your game when you take over a captaincy role, then it is pretty hard to argue after what he has done with his Test cricket in the last 2-to 3 years. He has played as well as anybody in the world through that period of time, and we know how good he is as a white-ball player,” Ponting added.”They (BCCI) will have a decision to make what they want to do with their roles as well, whether they split roles or whether they want to keep the same captain for all formats,” he added.Further speaking about Ajinkya Rahane and KL Rahul as leaders, Ponting stated: “To be honest, I have worked with Ajinkya – he is just a great bloke, a very, very good player. He hasn’t had his best period with the bat in Tests, but we saw what he can do leadership-wise in the series against Australia last summer,” Ponting additional stated.Click right here for IndiaToday.in’s full protection of the coronavirus pandemic.
