In an emotional 13-minute video on his YouTube channel, former India cricketer Mohammed Kaif questioned the decision to remove Rohit Sharma from ODIs and blamed chief selector Ajit Agarkar for pressurizing Shubman Gill to take over the captaincy.“What wrong has Rohit Sharma done? It’s very unfortunate that we didn’t get a long captaincy run from Rohit—not even four years,” Kaif said.
“A great batter, an outstanding leader, and as captain, he could have had an even more impressive record. When you snatch captaincy, I feel a player loses his right hand,” he added.Kaif said the selectors should have waited until the 2027 ODI World Cup for the change of guard.“This was on expected lines, but I felt this would happen after the 2027 World Cup. The guy has quality, and he’s also worked on his fitness. He had a realistic chance of playing in the 2027 World Cup,” he said.However, Kaif also warned that with this much responsibility, it might affect Shubman Gill’s batting.“However, the load falls on Gill. He’s getting all of it in a hurry. It could also backfire. When you get so much responsibility in such a short time, it could affect performance,” he said.
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Do you agree with Kaif’s assessment that Rohit Sharma should not have been removed as ODI captain?
“My point is: don’t overburden him. He captains in Tests, bats at No. 4, was made vice-captain in the Asia Cup, and will take over when Suryakumar Yadav steps aside.“Now you’ve made him the ODI captain. I feel everything is being done in a hurry. A player never asks for captaincy.“Everyone knows he didn’t want it. You can’t demand it, but everyone seems to like him a lot and considers him a captain for the future. The selectors, including Ajit Agarkar, have pressurized him,” Kaif added.
