Hopefully a bowler will be the captain after Kohli, says Virender Sehwag

Former cricketer Virender Sehwag is interested in seeing a bowler take up the responsibility of captaincy in the Indian team after Virat Kohli. Although there have been a number of bowling captains in the other teams, some of them largely successful, it somehow never happened in India. Except for Bishen Singh Bedi, Kapil Dev and then, later on, Anil Kumble, the Indian team has never had a bowler at the helm.

The ex-vice captain of India clearly wants that changed. In his opinion, a bowling captain should be something that the BCCI officials should consider once Kohli hangs up his boots. He seemed to be very taken with the idea, and himself claimed to be a ‘fan’ of it. Sehwag made this statement in a press conference in Mohali on Friday.

“I am a great fan of a bowling captain,” he remarked. To back up his point, he named some of the great bowling captains from the past as well.

“I watched Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Wasim Akram as captains. In India generally, you don’t give the captaincy to bowlers, but hopefully after Virat (Kohli) some bowler will become the captain (of the national team),” he remarked.

Sehwag also had a few words of praise for the skipper of his IPL team and also lauded his selection as a captain. Sehwag is the mentor and director of King XI Punjab, and the team will be led in the 11th edition of IPL by a bowler, Ravichandran Ashwin – exactly what Sehwag wishes to see in the national team.

Ashwin is the right person to captain KXIP, says Sehwag

“I have played with him (Ashwin) and I know the kind of mindset he has. He is the right choice to be captain of Punjab team,” Sehwag stated to the PTI.

Kings XI Punjab has failed to perform and live up to the expectation of the fans so far in the history of the tournament. They have never won the cup and qualified for the playoffs only twice. But Sehwag thinks this year will be different.

According to him, KXIP has the best combination of domestic and overseas players in IPL 2018, some of whom are reliable big-hitters.

“We have the best team if I compare last ten years. The team is a balanced one with the right mix of Indian and foreign players,” said the former opener. “We have a set of players who believe in dealing in sixes and boundaries, they don’t believe in singles,” he further claimed.

KXIP has appointed Australian Brad Hodge as the new head coach for the team. They have their first match against Viru’s previous team Delhi Daredevils in Mohali on Sunday, April 8. He sounds hopeful about their prospects this year, as he describes the equation within the team on the field and off it.

“I make sure that everybody is comfortable and that they get their own space and do whatever they want to do, which later helps them in giving their 100 percent. Off the field, we are very cool, we make sure that our colleagues laugh and crack jokes.”

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