'Virat Kohli won't do it...': Harbhajan calls Shastri's 'filler for Rohit captaincy' fix 'huge step back'

Harbhajan Singh has discarded Ravi Shastri's theory that Virat Kohli should captain India when Rohit Sharma is unavailable.

KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Shikhar Dhawan, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Dinesh Karthik… and of course Rohit Sharma. Captaincy in Indian cricket has become a round of musical chairs ever since Virat Kohli stepped down. Mostly because Rohit has time and again been either rested or gotten injured. After Rohit was appointed India's all-formats captain in January of 2022, he missed the ODI series in South Africa, the rescheduled fifth Test against England, and the Test series in Bangladesh. In his absence, almost everyone had a go, albeit without much success. Under Rahul, India were whitewashed 0-3 in South Africa, and when he pulled his hamstring making way for Pant to take over, the T20Is at home against the same opponents finished 1-1.

Harbhajan Singh is not in favour of Virat Kohli filling in as captain in Rohit Sharma's absence. (Getty)

After much deliberation, the baton was passed on to Bumrah for the all-important series decider against England in Edgbaston. The result: India lost by seven wickets, squandering one of their best chances of registering a series win in England. Amid all this, Indian cricket found a new leader in Hardik, who led a bunch of youngsters in T20Is; and when he got busy in the Indian team's preparations for the T20 World Cup, Dhawan filled in captaining a bunch of youngsters in West Indies.

Indian cricket is no stranger to injuries. In fact, right now it is at its lowest. Two of their premier stars in Rishabh Pant and Jasprit Bumrah are out with no fixed timeline on their returns. Shreyas Iyer's injury blow was so severe that the selection committee had to go back to Ajinkya Rahane - who last played a Test in January 2022 – for the World Test Championship final. And if the developments of the ongoing week are anything to go by, Team India is likely to be without Rahul and Jaydev Unadkat as well.

As injuries continue to pile on, Ravi Shastri earlier this week proposed that India should 'look into the direction' of giving Kohli captaincy when Rohit is unavailable like there was last year in Birmingham. If the mind is to hark back to June 2022, once Rohit was injured, clamours of Kohli being given the captaincy for this one-off Test gained steam, but the responsibility was handed over to Bumrah instead, as he became the first fast bowler to captain India since the legendary Kapil Dev. Shastri, like many, was taken aback by the decision. It was under Kohli that India had taken a 2-1 lead in 2021 and it was only fitting that their most successful Test captain took centre stage given what was at stake. However, the team management went in a different direction hoping to find Rohit's successor.

Shastri's opinion is sure to excite Kohli fans, but the one person who is not in favour of the solution provided by the former India coach is Harbhajan Singh, who feels that naming Virat the captain again is not the way forward. You don't need rocket science to determine that Team India is struggling to find their next Test leader after Rohit. Unlike ODIs and T20s, where Hardik is in line, the two options they have in whites is either Pant or Iyer. Bumrah was a contender but given the seriousness of his back injury, it is unlikely that the management will be interested in him anymore. Hence, in order to solve this quandary, Harbhajan reckons the need of the hour is to look forward and not fall back on Kohli's legacy.

"This will be like taking a huge step back (making Kohli a fill-in captain). If you keep moving back, how will you move forward? Not that Virat was a bad captain. Till the time he was in charge, Virat was brilliant. Look at this record – the Test wins at home and overseas – it speaks for itself. He's delivered the results too. But I definitely believe that if Rohit is not playing or is injured or whatever be the reason, we should look at someone else," Harbhajan Singh, who is an expert with Star Sports, the official TV broadcaster of IPL 2023, told Hindustan Times.

Another theory that doesn't support the idea of Kohli filling in as India captain is the man himself and what went down between him and the then-BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly, the latest chapter of which came to light during the IPL 2023's 'no handshake' incident between the two. Having said that, a lot of water has flown under the bridge since November 2021. Kohli captaining Royal Challengers Bangalore because Faf du Plessis' rib-injury was a throwback to the good old days. Not that Kohli is ever short of emotions, but him back at the helm brought back a sea of memories and emotions. But as nostalgic as it may sound, Harbhajan insisted that going forward, Kohli should not be an option.

"If it comes to the one-off match, then yes, Virat can take charge. But not otherwise. If it's a big match like a WTC final, why not? But if you look at a 4-match series where Rohit is not available, then that is the time to invest in a new captain. But if you go back to Virat in a long series, that is not a step in the right direction. Firstly, Virat won't do it, and even if he does, it will send an indication that we haven't prepared the next captain." the veteran of over 400 Test wickets pointed out.