With Virat Kohli stepping down as India’s T20I captain and Rohit Sharma taking over the reins, former batter Virender Sehwag expects the 33-year-old to take up a role similar to the one Sachin Tendulkar donned in the team. Sehwag explained how Tendulkar, who played under several captains, would share his thoughts with the skipper – be it Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid or MS Dhoni – as a senior in the team and believes Kohli would serve a similar role going forward.
“India have got a new captain and a vice-captain and since Kohli will be around, he will certainly offer his suggestions – which he feels is right. See, even Tendulkar played for so long and did it under so many captains. All the time, he would share his thoughts with the captain and then it was up to the skipper to implement it. Which is why Kohli said something great when he said that he and Rohit are the leaders and as long as they are around, they will help the youngsters and the captain,” Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.
Sehwag underlined the importance of grooming a youngster as vice-captain, so that the transformation from deputy to skipper becomes easy. Back in 2007, when MS Dhoni was appointed captain of the team and Sehwag his deputy, the former India opener revealed how he had urged the BCCI to select someone younger, but his request wasn’t given attention.
