Former skipper Kapil Dev doesn't think the Indian cricket culture is suited to adopt a split-captaincy model where while maintaining his position at the helm in Test matches, Virat Kohli can relinquish his post for Rohit Sharma in ODIs and T20Is.
The legendary all-rounder and 1983 World Cup-winning captain gave his opinion amid ongoing debates whether Kohli can manage his workload better by giving away leadership responsibilities at least in the shortest format.
The option has been mooted by prominent figures within the set-up, especially with Rohit taking Mumbai Indians (MI) to their fifth IPL title under his captaincy.
Speaking at the virtually held 'HT Leadership Summit', Kapil, however, disagreed with those voices.
"In our culture, it is not going to happen that way," he said. "In one company you make two CEOs? No. If Kohli is going to play T20s and he is good enough. Let him be there. Even though I would like to see other people coming out. But it’s difficult."
"Our 80 per cent, 70 per cent of the team across formats is same team. They don’t like captains having different theory. It may bring more differences between the players who look up to the captain."
"If you have two captains, players might think he is going to be my captain in Tests. I will not annoy him."
Kapil, meanwhile, said it saddens him a great deal when he sees bowlers trying too many variations under pressure in contemporary white-ball cricket.
"I am not happy with fast bowlers (these days). The first ball cannot be cross seam. Players in IPL realised that swing is more important than pace. Sandeep (Sharma), who bowled 120 kph, was tougher because he was moving the ball."
"Bowlers have to understand it’s not the pace, it’s the swing. They should learn but are running away from art. T Natarajan was my hero of IPL. Young boy was fearless and bowling so many yorkers."
“Keep your wrist straight, hold the ball seam-up. Whenever the ball moves Tests matches become important. Wasim, Botham, Willis, Hadlee. McGrath, look how good he was."
"The art of swing bowling should come back. Learning the knuckle ball and all is fine. If you don’t know how to swing the ball, everything is waste."
Sticking to fast bowling, India's progress over the last three-four years really warms Kapil's heart.
"I read somewhere that (Brian) Lara said he (would) rather prefer (to) face Kapil Dev but not (Jasprit) Bumrah. Our fast bowlers are brilliant."
"Look at (Mohammad) Shami, Bumrah. As a cricketer, it gives me a lot of happiness to say that today we depend on our fast bowlers. Our bowlers are capable of taking 20 wickets in a match."
"We’ve had spinners Kumble, Harbhajan, but today no country would like to say ‘give them bouncy wickets’."
At last, Kapil urged the game's custodians to ensure Test cricket is in good health in times when T20 is the game's most frequently played format.
"If it (Test cricket) dies, I would say ICC have done the worst thing… Let us not let it die… Yes cricket has changed. People around the world only want to play IPL, BBL and tournaments like that," Kapil said.
"I would say IPL has given us strength. What used to be county cricket, every player used to play there (in England) but today IPL is giving the same benefit to us as the players are coming and playing in India."
"Don’t just think about T20 or IPL, you have to look after first-class cricket, Tests and ODIs. Yes, money-making factor is there but we should not forget our tradition. Tennis, for example, we still have Wimbledon played on grass," he signed off.
(Inputs from PTI)
