'It was wrong and it backfired' - Rashid Latif feels India's performance in South Africa affected due to captaincy saga

Former Pakistan cricketer Rashid Latif has noted that the captaincy saga surrounding Virat Kohli has not helped the Indian team and has played a role in poor performances on their South Africa tour. Kohli was removed from the ODI captaincy a month after he had stepped down as T20I skipper for India. Rohit Sharma was named the new captain in white-ball cricket while KL Rahul became his deputy.

However, after not managing to win the Test series in South Africa, Kohli gave up Test captaincy as well. Rohit Sharma was named the vice-captain of the Test captain replacing Ajinkya Rahane ahead of the South Africa tour and now it remains to be seen who gets the nod as permanent Test captain. Rahul led India in just one Test in the absence of Rohit but the latter has had a lot of injury concerns which has created doubts now for the captaincy role.

Virat Kohli’s roots are deeply instilled, says Rashid Latif

Meanwhile, Latif feels that India’s plans to remove Kohli from ODI captaincy has dug a hole for themselves and it has impacted hugely in the performances of the side in South Africa. He added that India will have to deal with the issue as the decision will keep hurting them. The visitors lost the Test series 1-2 and have already lost the ODI series going down in the first two games.

“It has reached a dead end now. And there is nothing in a dead end. No way out. Whoever’s plan this was, it just did not work out. It was wrong and it backfired. Fact is when a player is leading a team for near about 10 years, his roots are deeply instilled in the team. You shouldn’t break that. It sets a bad example,” Latif told in a YouTube channel ‘Cricket Baaz with Waheed Khan’.

The task will be cut out for BCCI while naming the Test captain as they have various factors to consider. Also, with Rahul not being able to win a game yet in his captaincy in the South Africa tour, it has piled up pressure on the selection committee led by Chetan Sharma.