Rohit wasn't keen to succeed Kohli as India captain, says Ganguly, reveals how he convinced Hitman

Rohit Sharma-led India are on a roll in the home ODI World Cup 2023 edition. They are the only unbeaten team so far, with eight back-to-back teams and became the first-ever to book a semi-final berth. Ahead of India's last league game versus the Netherlands, on Sunday (Nov 12) in Bengaluru, former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly revealed that Rohit wasn't keen to take over as the all-format skipper, after Virat Kohli, but was later on convinced by Ganguly, the then BCCI chief.

"Rohit Sharma wasn't keen (on taking up India's captaincy in all three formats). It had gone to a stage where I told him 'you'll have to say yes otherwise I'll make the announcement.' Because he is an outstanding captain. And after Virat Kohli left, he was the best man to lead India. I am not surprised by what I am seeing," Ganguly said in a chat with Kolkata TV.

Ganguly explained the reason behind Hitman's reluctance and said, "Lot of cricket; Tests, ODIs, T20, IPL – he was already a captain there, lot of pressure. So he had a lot of his plate. But nothing can be bigger than being an India captain. I am happy that he took it and it makes me glad seeing the results."

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Rohit became the T20I skipper in late 2021 after Virat Kohli's resignation, which came before that year's T20 World Cup in the UAE. Later that year, Kohli was sacked as the ODI captain with Rohit succeeding him as the white-ball skipper. Ultimately, Hitman became the all-format captain in early 2022 with Kohli's resignation from the top post in Tests, which came soon after the series loss to hosts South Africa.

While Rohit's full-time captaincy has had a lot of bumps, the national side is on a roll at the moment and only some distance away from winning the home ODI WC. Under him, India reached the 2022 T20 WC semi-finals and ended as runners-up in the 2023 WTC final.

Ganguly also revealed that head coach Rahul Dravid was also not keen to take the top post, which became vacant after Ravi Shastri's exit in late 2021. However, he agreed for the betterment of Indian cricket.

"It's a lot of time on the road. He has a young family, two young kids. Plus, he played cricket all his life. So it's not easy coaching but he agreed thinking about Indian cricket and I wish he does it in the future too. A coach needs to be given time; it isn't magic for a coach to produce instant results in 3-4 months. He needs time to turn things around which he has now, second year in his tenure," Ganguly said as he hailed Dravid.