After the Rohit Sharma-captained Mumbai Indians won this years Indian Premier League title, Gautam Gambhir has said that it would be “shame” if the former is not made India’s full-time limited-overs captain.
“If Rohit Sharma doesn’t become India’s captain, it’s their loss, not Rohit’s,” Gambhir was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. “Yes, a captain is only as good as his team and I completely agree with that, but what are the parameters to judge a captain on who is good and who isn’t? The parameters and benchmark should be the same. Rohit has led his team to five IPL titles,” he added.
Rohit Sharma led the team to their fifth Indian Premier League (IPL) glory with a -wicket victory over Delhi Capitals in the final of the 2020 edition of the tournament.
Chasing Delhi’s total of 156/7, Rohit smashed 68 runs off 51 balls. He got generous support from Quinton de Kock (20 off 12) and Ishan Kishan (33 off 19) with whom he shared partnerships of 45 runs and 47 runs respectively. Suryakumar Yadav (19 off 20) was also a part of a 45-run stand with Rohit.
It was Rohit’s first fifty since October 1. His innings propelled Mumbai to the winning total with nine balls to spare despite some late wickets in the last few overs.
Batting in their first-ever IPL final, Delhi Capitals were off to a poor start. They were reduced to 22/3 inside just five overs.
However, a 96-run partnership between captain Shreyas Iyer (65 off 50) and Rishabh Pant (56 off 38) ensured a healthy total for their team.
The cricketer-turned-politician, Gambhir, had earlier said that Royal Challengers Bangalore, who made exit from IPL 2020 in the playoffs, should remove Virat Kohli as skipper and appoint someone else.
“We keep saying MS Dhoni is India’s most successful captain. Why? Because he has won two World Cups and three IPLs,” Gambhir said.
“Rohit has won five IPL titles. He is the most successful captain in the history of the tournament. Going forward, it’ll be a shame if he doesn’t get India’s white-ball or just T20 captaincy because he can’t do much more than this. He can only help the team he captains to victories. So if he doesn’t become India’s regular white-ball captain, it will be their loss,” he added.
Mumbai had earlier won the tournament in 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019.