The announcement by Virat Kohli that he would step down as the captain of the Indian T20I team after the T20 World Cup was only a matter of time before Rohit Sharma was named his successor. While Virat was absent, Rohit had been filling in during important tournaments like the Nidahas Trophy and Asia Cup in 2019. Rohit also captains Mumbai Indians with five IPL titles.

Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul could be contenders for the role, as they are relatively young and could be groomed to be long-term captains. However, those assumptions were dispelled on Wednesday when Rohit was named captain of the T20I series against New Zealand.

Pakistan former all-rounder and skipper Shahid Afridi announced that Rohit’s appointment as captain was a foregone conclusion. Afridi played alongside Rohit in the inaugural IPL back in 2008, and believes the new captain should get a chance to pilot India full-time. He anticipates seeing two different sides of the new captain.

“Virat should, in my opinion, should make the option to continue as a player solely. There would be less pressure because he has also played a lot of cricket as well as experience. Since captaining a team is difficult, especially in countries like India and Pakistan, he can enjoy his cricket and as a batsman. Things will go smoothly as long as you’re captaining well”, Afridi concluded.