Subramaniam Badrinath, a former India player thinks that Rohit Sharma should not be in charge of the Test team. He wants Virat Kohli to lead again in this type of cricket. Badrinath says that Rohit hasn’t shown he can open for a team outside India and stated nobody should compare him to Virat Kohli.
After India’s big loss to South Africa in the Boxing Day Test, Badrinath said some harsh things. In that game, they lost by many runs and had a bad time. The visitors made 245 and 131 in the two times they played. While Virat Kohli made 38 and 76 in the big game, Rohit failed badly with just 5 and a zero score.
Badrinath posted on his YouTube channel, casting doubt on Rohit’s qualifications as a Test captain:
“Kohli has a great record as a test leader. He has scored more than 5000 runs with an average of 52 as a captain. He has 40 wins and 17 losses in 68 tests. He led us to a tremendous victory in the Australia series. He has the most wins as Test captain after Graeme Smith, Ricky Ponting and Steve Waugh.”
Subramaniam Badrinath
The former cricketer believes that Virat Kohli should regain his position as India’s Test captain. He suggests Rohit hasn’t shown satisfactory performance to be the leading figure in red-ball cricket for India.
“Why is he (Virat) not the captain of the Test team? I want to raise this valid question. He is a better test batter. There is no comparison between Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. He is a big player in terms of Test cricket. He has scored runs everywhere. Why is he not leading and a weaker player?,”
“As far as I am concerned, a weaker player who is not yet proven as an opener. He has been in and out. We can consider all of that. But I think Rohit Sharma has not proven himself as an opener outside India. Why is he there?”
Subramaniam Badrinath
Rohit’s Test record is noteworthy, amassing 3,682 runs in 53 Tests. He maintains a 45.45 average, boasting 10 hundreds and 16 fifties. Despite this, his performance internationally is not as commendable. Specifically in South Africa, he’s had a hard time, averaging 12.80 in five Tests, with his top score being just 47.
Virat Kohli’s Test record as captain
Virat Kohli captained India in 68 Test matches. They won 40, lost 17, and tied 11. This puts his victory rate at 58.82%.
With the most Test wins, Virat Kohli tops India’s leadership list, ahead of MS Dhoni (27 wins) and Sourav Ganguly (21 wins). The team’s first-ever Test series victory in Australia happened under his lead in the 2019-20 season.
As skipper, Kohli’s Test record is impressive. He amassed 5864 runs, averaging 54.80. He scored 20 centuries, 18 half-centuries, with a highest score of 254*.