New Delhi, Jun 27 (PTI) Former India opener Virender Sehwag reckons that skipper Rohit Sharma could be relieved from captaincy duties in the T20 format which would allow him to manage his workload better.
Rohit has not been able to feature in all of India's matches since taking over as captain due to injuries and workload management.
"If the Indian team management has someone else in mind as captain in the T20 format, then I think, Rohit (Sharma) could be relieved and the following can be taken into consideration going forward," Sehwag told PTI in an interview.
"One, that would allow Rohit to manage his workload and mental fatigue, given his age.
"Two, once someone new is appointed as captain in T20s, it would also allow Rohit to take breaks and rejuvenate himself to lead India in both Tests and ODIs," he said in an interaction arranged by Sony Sports, the official broadcaster of the India-England series.
However, Sehwag maintained that if the team management sticks with its current policy of having one captain to lead India across the three formats, then Sharma is still an ideal choice.
"If the Indian think-tank still wants to pursue with the same policy, which is, to let one man leading India in all the three formats, then I still believe, Rohit Sharma is the best man for it."
Sehwag has raised a pertinent point about split captaincy in an era when choc a bloc international schedule puts more focus than ever on injury management and mental fatigue.
The concept of split captaincy commenced back in 1997 when Australian selectors appointed Steve Waugh as the captain of the then ODI side, and Mark Taylor remained the head of the Test team.
While Australia did taste considerable success using this route, so in England, when the ECB made Joe Root the Test captain and Eoin Morgan was entrusted with the responsibility of the ODI side.
That same year in June, 1997 England appointed Adam Hollioake as the ODI skipper and Mike Atherton was the captain of the then Test side.
Over the years, it has been used by other teams, including Australia, West Indies and South Africa.
However, Indian cricketing eco-system is slightly different where multiple power centre across formats work more seamlessly than in sub continent.
Multiple captains have not been tried in Indian cricket for long periods. India's World Cup winning skipper Kapil Dev has publicly said that split captaincy can't work in Indian cricket as it is not part of "our culture".
India could have had split captaincy for an extended period when Rohit was made the white-ball captain last year. However, Kohli resigned from Test captaincy soon after, elevating Rohit as the all format skipper.
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