“Captaincy Is Not Anyone’s Birthright”: Gautam Gambhir Says Virat Kohli Should Look To Score Runs

With Virat Kohli stepping down from India’s Test captaincy, former cricketer Gautam Gambhir feels the 33-year-old should turn his focus on scoring runs which he said was “more important”. Gambhir stated that “captaincy is not anyone’s birthright”, explaining that even MS Dhoni gave his captaincy and played under Virat Kohli. Speaking on Star Sports’ Game Plan show, the former India opener said, “What more do you want to see? I don’t know. I think captaincy is not anyone’s birthright. People like MS Dhoni have given their captaincy baton to Virat Kohli. He has played under Virat Kohli as well. He’s won three ICC trophies, three or four IPL trophies as well.”

Kohli stepped down from the role after India’s 1-2 defeat to South Africa in the three-match Test series. He had already quit T20I captaincy after the T20 World Cup and was soon removed from ODI captaincy. The BCCI announced Rohit Sharma as India’s full-time white-ball skipper in December last year.

Further elaborating on Kohli’s role with the national team, Gambhir said, “I think Virat Kohli should look to score runs and that is more important. When you dream of playing for India, you don’t dream of becoming captain, you dream of winning games for India and nothing changes.”

“Except you don’t go out there and do the toss and set the field placements. But your energy and intensity should remain the same because it’s an honour playing for your country”, he further added.

India are scheduled to face South Africa in a three-match ODI series from January 19. Due to Rohit Sharma’s absence, Kohli will be playing under the leadership of KL Rahul, who is the stand-in skipper.