'He is always in the XI': Ashish Nehra names surprise pick to replace Virat Kohli as India's T20I captain

Virat Kohli is all set to step down as Indian cricket team's captain from the T20I format post the conclusion of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021. Kohli is leading the Men in Blue in his final T20 assignment as the captain of the side and will be playing the shortest format as a pure batter after the showpiece event. The team is also expected to undergo a major overhaul as far as T20Is are concerned after a poor show in the World Cup this year.

India lost their first two matches of the Super 12 in a row against Pakistan and New Zealand and are currently on the verge of getting eliminated from the tournament from Super 12 despite having won comprehensively against Afghanistan and Scotland in their last two matches. India's fate rests in the hands of Afghanistan, who will have to beat New Zealand in their last Super 12 encounter to keep India alive in the race for semi-finals.

While Kohli is set to step aside as a captain after the T20 World Cup, there have been a lot of names that have come up to replace him as the leader of Team India in the shortest format. While many experts have backed Rohit Sharma to be the next T20 captain of Team India, the likes of Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul among others have also emerged as captaincy contenders.

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Former Indian pacer Ashish Nehra has named a surprise pick to succeed Kohli as the captain of the Indian team. He feels premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah can be an ideal candidate for captaincy since he is a regular member in the playing XI across all formats and is an important member of the squad.

"After Rohit Sharma, we are hearing the names of Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul [as contendors]. Rishabh Pant has travelled around the world but has also carried drinks and has even been left out from the team before. KL Rahul returned to Test cricket because Mayank Agarwal was injured... So Jasprit Bumrah can be an option too,"Nehra told Cricbuzz.

"As Ajay [Jadeja] said, he's sturdy, a certainty in the team, and is always in the XI for all formats. It's nowhere written in the rule book that fast bowlers can't be captains," he added.

Also Read:Explainer - What India, NZ& Afghanistan need to do to qualify for T20 World Cup 2021 semi-finals

While Bumrah is one of the vital cogs of the Indian bowling line-up across formats, he is unlikely to be promoted as a captain anytime soon. Rohit appears to be the likely one to take over the batton from Kohli in T20Is keeping the T20 World Cup 2022 in mind.