Former Pakistan cricketer Shahid Afridi has praised the BCCI’s move to appoint Rohit Sharma as the captain for the T20I home series vs New Zealand. And said that Virat Kohli should “continue only as a player”.

With Rohit Sharma appointed as the captain of Team India for the upcoming home T20I series vs New Zealand. Shahid Afridi praised the BCCI’s decision and revealed that he expected such an announcement. The former Pakistan captain feels that Rohit’s mindset makes him an “excellent player” and added that the flamboyant batsman “stays at ease where required and also shows aggression when needed”. Kohli has resigned from the T20I captaincy following India’s exit from the ongoing T20 World Cup and has been rested for the T20I series against New Zealand.

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Speaking on Sama TV, Afridi said-

Virat Kohli is India’s most successful captain in Test cricket and enjoys one of the best win percentages in One Day Internationals among all international captains.

“I think Virat should decide to just continue as a player. There will be relatively less pressure, he has played a lot of cricket too. He will enjoy his cricket and batting because captaining a team is not easy, especially In countries like India. And Pakistan. As long as you are captaining well, things go smoothly”, he said.

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He added, “As I said, it was bound to be a captaincy move. He should definitely be given a chance.”

Meanwhile, Afridi also feels that Virat Kohli should give up the captaincy in all formats and focus on his batting. The 33-year-old still remains as ODI and Test captain.

As far as Rohit is concerned, it was on the cards. I have played with him for a year (in Deccan Chargers). He is comfortable where he lives. Necessity and also shows aggression when needed. We will see both sides.

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India will be without Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Shami when they take the field for the first Test against New Zealand in Kanpur from November 25 to 29. All five have presumably been rested, though the BCCI release that announced the squad on Friday gave no reasons for their exclusion.