'It Has All Been Downhill For India Since Virat Kohli Stepped Down as Captain': Salman Butt

Former Pakistan cricketer Salman Butt suggested that India’s graph has gone downhill since Virat Kohli stepped down as Test captain. India recently lost to Australia in the World Test Championship Final against Australia at the Oval. Rohit Sharma’s captaincy came under the scanner after their flop show in the all-important clash. From team selection to bowling changes and the defensive approach on Day 1 of the match, Rohit faced criticism as India’s wait for the ICC title extend further. The Asian Giants played with four pacers and a spinner and dropped Ravichandran Ashwin – the decision backfired as the Indian bowlers failed to contain Australia in the first innings as a result they posted 469. After leaking runs in first innings, India kept chasing Australia throughout the match.

Salman slammed Rohit’s post-final comments where he asked the WTC final to take place outside England in the next cycles.

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“Rohit Sharma asked why the final of the World Test Championship takes place in June. He also stated that it should be moved out of England. These are the debates that happen once you don’t get favorable results,” Butt said.

The former Pakistan captain further said that India should have sent the team early to England so that they could play a couple of warm-up matches but they failed in their planning for the all-important clash.

“Instead, we should talk about priorities. If the WTC final was India’s priority, they should have finished the IPL before 20 days. They should have sent their squad to England 15 days before the final to play a couple of matches against county teams,” he added.

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Butt pointed out India used to dominate under Kohli’s leadership in overseas Tests but things have not been stable after he relinquished the post.

“India have an impressive away record in Tests. However, it has all been downhill since Virat Kohli stepped down as captain. Things haven’t been stable since then. They would have won in India anyway, even without having a captain. One can assess captaincy only when the team tours abroad,” he said.