India skipper Rohit Sharma on Wednesday said that it is a great feeling to be leading India in all three formats of the game. He was named the T20I skipper after Virat Kohli stepped down after the T20 World Cup 2021 and couldn’t be convinced to stay on as captain in white-ball format.
Later BCCI named Rohit Sharma as the ODI captain also. With Virat Kohli quitting the Test captaincy after losing the South Africa Test series 1-2, the BCCI mulled on quite a few names but then settled on Rohit Sharma as the all-format captain of the Indian team.
He aced his first series as India all-format captain white-washing West Indies recently in the ODIs and T20Is. His first Test series as India captain will be against Sri Lanka in March.
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"It is a huge honor and it is always a great feeling to be captaining India in all three formats. I have a lot of challenges to look forward to, once the opportunity came through, I was glad and very happy to be captaining the team, we have a solid bunch of guys, so looking forward to leading them onto the park and seeing what we can create on the field," said Rohit during a virtual press conference.
When asked about having Jasprit Bumrah as vice-captain in the T20I series, Rohit said: "It does not matter too much whether it is a batter of bowler who is the vice-captain. It is the mind that matters and Bumrah has a great mind of the game. I have seen it closely. Honestly, yes, it is a good way for him to step into the leadership role now."
"He has taken his game to the next level, I am sure he wants to do it even further. I am sure this is going to add further to him getting confidence. It is nice to have him as vice-captain for this particular series, let's hope everything works out. I do understand what sort of cricketing brain he has, it is nice to have him in this role," he added.
The Indian team will be missing quite a few names for the Sri Lanka T20I series with Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, and Shardul Thakur being rested and Suryakumar Yadav and Deepak Chahar getting ruled out due to injuries. Sanju Samson has been included in the T20I squad.
Rohit Sharma showed faith in Sanju Samson and said that he has the skills to succeed in the format for India and called him full of talent.
"Samson has got talent man, whenever you see him bat in the IPL, he has produced that innings where everyone goes over the moon watching that innings, he has got the skillset to succeed. That is the whole point about the sport, a lot of people have skill and talent, how you utilise it is the most critical part," said Rohit.
"It is now up to Sanju Samson how he wants to use that talent and maximise it because as team management, we see a lot of potential and a lot of talent in that individual. I hope we give him that confidence whenever he gets an opportunity. He is definitely into consideration and that is why he is part of the team. His backfoot play is superb. When you go to Australia, you need that shot-making ability, Samson has it in him. I just hope he utilises his potential," he added.
The first T20I between India and Sri Lanka begins on February 24 in Lucknow’s Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium.
(ANI inputs)
