Ravi Shastri has his say on split captaincy in Indian cricket and Rohit Sharma as skipper of ODI, T20I teams

Former India coach Ravi Shastri has given his thoughts on Rohit taking charge of India's ODI and T20I teams and how split captaincy would fare in Indian cricket.

The BCCI on Wednesday decided to name Rohit Sharma as the captain of India’s ODI and T20I teams bringing down curtains on Virat Kohli’s near five-year-tenure as the country’s limited-overs captain. Kohli took over as Test captain after MS Dhoni retired in late 2015 and then in ODIs and T20Is after the former skipper stepped down from the post in 2017.

Ravi Shastri has given his take on Rohit Sharma's captaincy.  (Getty)

Nearly five years later, something similar has happened, with the Indian cricket team now having two captains for limited-overs and Tests. Former India coach Ravi Shastri, who worked closely with Kohli and whose tenure ended with the T20 World Cup has given his thoughts on Rohit taking charge of India's ODI and T20I teams and how split captaincy would fare in Indian cricket.

"Rohit is not overawed; he always does what is best for the team. He marshalls all the resources of the team unlike, let's say, in football," Shastri told The Week in an interview.

Shastri looked back at his tenure as coach, recalling how seeing Kohli and Rohit evolve into two of the world's all-format batters makes him happy and proud. Shastri first got involved with the Indian team back in 2014, when he joined it as director, before getting promoted to a full-time coach post the departure of Anil Kumble in 2017.

"We are two people with a similar mindset. We have a similar wavelength. In 2014, when I first came in, there was only one big player – MS Dhoni. Who else was there? Who was superstar material? Virat, and maybe Rohit Sharma, in white-ball cricket. To see these two guys come through and become great players in red- and white-ball cricket, to have a great fast-bowling attack, to beat Australia in their backyard – there have been so many firsts with this team. It is overwhelming," added Shastri.