Monty Panesar wants Rohit to lead India in T20Is, says 'Virat Kohli is under pressure'

Former England spinner Monty Panesar has said that Rohit Sharma should replace Virat Kohli as captain ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup. Panesar's remarks came hardly a few days after Team India's eight-wicket loss at the hands of New Zealand in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final at Ageas Rose Bowl in Southampton.

Monty Panesar says Rohit Sharma should lead Team India from the front

"Well, I think T20 captaincy probably should be given to Rohit Sharma, he does really well for Mumbai Indians. You know Virat Kohli is under pressure here because if his team doesn’t perform in the five-match series against England and loses ICC T20 World Cup 2021 then you know what will happen,” said Monty Panesar while speaking to CricBouncer.

Virat Kohli & Rohit Sharma's captaincy careers

After Kohli was appointed as India's captain in all three formats back in January 2017, he has led India to their maiden bilateral ODI series win on South African soil in 2018 and first-ever Test, as well as bilateral ODI series, wins in Australia (2018-19).
However, he has unable to lead his team from the front when it comes to multi-nation tournaments. As a result of the recent ICC WTC final loss, this is the third ICC title that the Indian team lost under Virat Kohli's captaincy. 

India finished as the runners-up in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 after a humiliating 180-run defeat at the hands of arch-rivals Pakistan and were knocked out from the 2019 World Cup post a heartbreaking loss to dark horses New Zealand in a rain-curtailed semi-final that was played for two days.

Rohit, on the other hand, has led India to the Nidhas Trophy tri-series triumph against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in March 2018 and then led them to an Asia Cup victory later that year. He was the stand-in captain as Kohli was rest during those series.

Currently, the 'Hitman' serves as Team India's vice-captain in the limited-overs.