Kolkata: Former India captain and former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Sourav Ganguly is impressed with Rohit Sharma's captaincy at the ICC World Cup 2023 and said that he should lead India at least till the T20 World Cup scheduled for June 2024.
While talking to reporters, Ganguly endorsed Sharma and Virat Kohli's rest from the ODI format. "Once Rohit is back playing all formats, he should be the captain of India, because he has done so well in the World Cup," Ganguly said during a programme here on Friday.
"You saw in the World Cup how well they played. They are an integral and important part of Indian cricket," he said. For the record, both Sharma and Kohli haven't been part of the T20 format since the semifinals against England in the 2022 T20 World Cup.
Post the T20 World Cup 2022, all-rounder Hardik Pandya was chosen as India's T20 captain but he has been sidelined for an injury he sustained during the ODI World Cup. In his place, Suryakumar Yadav has been picked to lead the team in the ongoing five-match T20 series against Australia.
"World Cups are different from a bilateral series because the pressures are different. They have been exceptional in this World Cup and hopefully seven months down the line in the West Indies they will be at their best again," the former India captain said. "He's (Rohit) a leader. I expect and I presume that he will continue as captain till the T20 World Cup in 2024," he added.
Both Sharma and Kohli will be back for the two-Test series in South Africa starting with the Boxing Day Test at Centurion. "Very rightfully, they have taken a break because there is so much cricket all the time. I cannot imagine that you played a World Cup final on the 19th and in three days you're playing a T20I series against the same team," the former BCCI president said.
However, Ganguly was happy that the BCCI extended coach Rahul Dravid's contract till the T20 World Cup. "I'm not surprised that they reposed faith in Dravid. When I was president of the Board, we convinced him to do this job. And I'm so happy to see that his tenure has been extended.
"It was always the case, depending on whether he wanted it or not. I wish him luck for another T20 World Cup in June. He was very close this time. "They may not have won it, but they probably were the best team in the competition with the way they played. So, he's got another seven months for a World Cup in the West Indies. Hopefully, at that time, they will not be runners-up, but champions," Ganguly added.
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