Let Kohli grow into this role (captaincy), 2019 World Cup is far away: Gavaskar

05/11/2016

Despite his great record as Test captain, Sunil Gavaskar has opined that Virat Kohli should not be rushed into captaincy across all formats and must be given time. Gavaskar also talked about Kohli's IPL troubles at the Royal Challengers Bangalore and said that the bowlers have let the team down.

In an exclusive to NDTV, Gavaskar said, "Virat should not be rushed into captaincy in all formats. Let him grow into this role... 2019 World Cup is far away."

Gavaskar's stand comes just a day after Sourav Ganguly had insisted that the selectors need to hand over the reins to Kohli sooner than later, given that Dhoni will most likely not play in the 2019 World Cup. Ganguly had praised Kohli's consistency and tenacity and felt the time may be right.

Captaincy discussions apart, Kohli has been in the form of his life leading India into the semi-final of the T20 World Cup almost single-handedly and then notching up a record two centuries in the IPL. That brings him on par with Chris Gayle, and also puts him at the top of the IPL run-scorers list this season – all this while captaining Royal Challengers Bangalore.

However, all has not been well as RCB are on the brink of knocking themselves out of the playoffs as they languish in the bottom half of the table with four wins from nine games. While Kohli has been ably supported by AB de Villiers and K L Rahul in the batting department, the RCB bowlers have struggled to contain oppositions – RCB have given away a total in excess of 170 in each of their nine matches so far.

"Bowlers have let Bangalore down in IPL. Kohli is as good as his team," Gavaskar said stating the obvious.