Latif said Virat Kohli's roots are deeply instilled in the team and they shouldn't have uprooted them.
Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif reacted to Virat Kohli's captaincy saga after the Indian cricket team was whitewashed by South Africa in the three-match ODI series following a 1-2 loss in the Test series.
On Sunday, January 23, Team India suffered a 1-run loss in the third and final ODI to lose the series 3-0 to South Africa after winning just one match on the tour. India embarked on the South Africa tour following a controversy surrounding Kohli over his removal as ODI captain.
Rashid said that Kohli's captaincy saga has had a bad impact on the Indian team and it visually reflected on the team’s performance in South Africa. He further claimed that the plan to remove Kohli from captaincy has completely backfired leaving Indian cricket in a “dead end” position.
Notably, Kohli was removed from the ODI captaincy a month after he had stepped down as T20I skipper, just a few days before the South Africa tour. Later, Rohit Sharma was named the new white-ball captain of the India team and KL Rahul as his deputy. After India lost the Test series to South Africa, Kohli decided to step down as Test captain as well. He will now play as purely batter for India.
Latif said on the YouTube channel ‘Cricket Baaz with Waheed Khan’: “It has reached a dead end now. And there is nothing in a dead end. No way out. Whoever's plan this was, it just did not work out. It was wrong and it backfired. The fact is when a player is leading a team for near about 10 years, his roots are deeply instilled in the team. You shouldn't break that. It sets a bad example.”
India is yet to announce a new Test captain with the names of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah, and Rishabh Pant emerging as the frontrunners for the role.