Virat Kohli announced his decision to step down as Test captain on 15th January.
Former Pakistan skipper Rashid Latif was stunned by Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul’s reaction to Virat Kohli’s resignation as a Test skipper.
Virat Kohli’s name has been hogging over the headlines in recent times. The 33-year-old in November last year stepped down as the T20I skipper and then was later in December was sacked as the ODI skipper by BCCI.
He then shell shocked the entire cricketing fraternity with his decision to step down as the Indian Test skipper, after India’s disappointing Test series loss against South Africa.
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Kohli took charge of the Indian Test side during the Australia tour of 2014-15. Since then he put hard yards as the skipper and took the team to new heights. It was because of his aggressive captaincy and never-give-up attitude that the Indian side is considered as the most dominant red-ball team in world cricket.
Apart from many fans and pundits, Kohli was applauded by his teammates as well for his incredible stint as the Indian Test skipper. White-ball captain Rohit Sharma and his deputy KL Rahul were also among those who congratulated him for the legacy he left behind.
While Sharma was shocked with Kohli’s decision, Rahul wished him for the time ahead and thanked him for the things he did as a skipper.
Speaking a video posted on Caught Behind, a YouTube channel, former Pakistan skipper Rashid Latif while lauding Kohli as a global star, noted the issues with giving the captaincy to Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul.
He highlighted that Rahul, Rohit, and others accepted Kohli’s resignation as if they were waiting for him to quit Test captaincy.
"Kohli is a global star. Who will you make the captain? Rohit is not fit. He missed the entire tour of South Africa which means he is very unfit. KL Rahul is not capable. And I can't understand the players.
“I have seen everyone's reaction. Rahul, Rohit… all have accepted it. How can you accept his resignation if you really consider him that good? It was as if they were waiting for Virat to quit," Rashid Latif said.
Talking about Virat Kohli ODI captaincy saga, Latif said that what happened is wrong for Indian cricket and shouldn’t have happened. He stressed that if the right-hander decided to step down as skipper, it means he has given a solid reply to either Sourav Ganguly or someone else.
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"What happened is wrong for Kohli, Indian cricket, and Ganguly. This shouldn't have happened. If you take the captaincy away after a string of defeats – series after series – then it's understandable. If Virat has decided to step down, it means he has given you a solid reply. Either its Ganguly or someone else, they won’t be able to take it," he said.
Rashid Latif said that no matter who will captain Team India but there’s no bigger player than Virat Kohli in world cricket.
He pointed out that the day, the 33-year-old scored runs it will be a befitting reply for the selectors. He called the whole saga ‘titanic’ and termed Kohli as that.
"You bring whoever you want, there is no bigger player in this world than Virat. The day he scores runs, it will come as the perfect reply to them. It is not about performance. The whole matter is about ego. This is a titanic, and there is only one Titanic and that is Kohli,” he said.