Rohit Sharma

Star Indian opener KL Rahul has dissected the captaincy styles of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma while highlighting how he has evolved as player whistle playing under the Indian skippers. Rahul also mentioned former India skipper MS Dhoni's cool and composed nature and said that for being a good leader, one needs to have qualities of all these (Dhoni, Kohli, and Rohit) players.

Amidst the hype around Virat Kohli's 100th Test appearance, the fact that the first Test against Sri Lanka will be the beginning of Rohit Sharma's innings as the full-time skipper in the longest format of the game has been pushed to the background. Amidst the hype around Virat Kohli's 100th Test appearance, the fact that the first Test against Sri Lanka will be the beginning of Rohit Sharma's innings as the full-time skipper in the longest format of the game has been pushed to the background.

"As far as Rohit Sharma is concerned, he is the number one cricketer of our country. The most important thing is that he is playing all three formats. For us, it becomes very important how we manage Rohit. Nowadays, cricketers are professionals, play all three formats and know how to manage their bodies well," said Chetan Sharma.

Sharma said in the virtual press conference that both batters had been spoken to about the decision and have been told to get runs in the ongoing 2021/22 Ranji Trophy. He added that the Indian team is looking to groom future captains under Sharma. The appointment of Sharma, already the white-ball captain of India, makes him the full-time all-format skipper for India, completing his takeover from Virat Kohli.

In the second and third ODIs, India was placed in precarious situations, 43/3 and 42/3 respectively while batting first. In Wednesday's match, Rahul and Yadav stood up to rebuild the innings while on Friday, Iyer and Pant resurrected the Indian innings. Sharma pointed out that different individuals standing up to restore stability to India's innings was a positive for the team.

The selection for the six matches -- three ODIs and as many T20Is against Kieron Pollard led side -- was expected to take place on Tuesday itself but it was postponed due to the unavailability of coach Rahul Dravid and a couple of selectors, who have travelled for almost 24 hours to reach India from South Africa. The selection committee meeting, led by chief selector Chetan Sharma, may now take place in the next two days.

Former head coach Ravi Shastri has said that Rohit Sharma should be made a full-time Test captain of India, provided the senior batter can maintain his fitness. Rohit was appointed as India's Test vice-captain in December last year.However, the Mumbai Indians skipper was not able to travel with the Indian team to South Africa due to a hamstring injury he picked up last year.

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has been given the charge of captaining the eleven which also has his countryman and Player of the Match in the inaugural World Test Championship final, Kyle Jamieson, as well. Apart from three Indians and two New Zealanders, England captain Joe Root, Australia's Marnus Labuschagne, Sri Lanka's Dimuth Karunaratne, and Pakistani trio of Fawad Alam, Hasan Ali and Shaheen Afridi are in the eleven as well.

"I feel Rohit Sharma is a good player and can be a very good captain. Whatever experience I have and whatever cricket I have played, I feel the captaincy should be given to Rohit only. He might play cricket for another two or three years, he might play more as well but his fitness will be very important because his hamstring becomes weak repeatedly," Azharuddin was quoted as saying by India News.

There were reports of a rift between Kohli and Rohit since the former was sacked from the ODI captaincy and replaced by the latter. However, while addressing a virtual press conference to announce India's ODI squad for South Africa, the chief selector cleared the air. Asked if they planned to have Kohli and Rohit sit down to iron things out, Chetan said, "But about what? Things are absolutely fine. That's why I was saying don't go by speculations. We're all cricketers first and selectors later. There is nothing between them."