Virat Kohli is set to lead Team India in his 4th ICC event later this year as the Men the Blue take part in T20 World Cup 2021. While he has played three T20 World Cups, Kohli is yet to lead India in the shortest format in an ICC event.

Kohli has an impressive record in ICC events as India have played 2 finals under him. The Men in Blue also made it to the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup. Kohli, who has captained Team India in 201 matches, will hope to end his title drought in the event which takes place in UAE.

While the result of the ICC event isn’t expected to have an impact on Kohli’s captaincy, former India wicketkeeper-batsman, Deep Dasgupta, has said that Rohit Sharma will be a strong contender to replace the regular captain if something goes wrong at the ICC event.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Dasgupta said: “Even though Rohit has led the side before, there’s a difference between a stand-in skipper and a full-time skipper because as the former you don’t want to make too many changes. When you are a full-time skipper, obviously, you want to make changes because you want to run the team your way.”

“I believe it will be unfair on Rohit, the team, and also Virat now just 3-4 months before [the World Cup]. But I think the T20 World Cup will be very, very important in that aspect, because if something goes wrong there then Rohit is one of the main contenders for that spot,” he added.

Rohit has captained Team India to 15 wins in 19 matches. The Men in Blue also won Nidahas Trophy under him in 2018.

Like Kohli, Rohit also has a wealthy experience of captaincy in IPL and he has been captaining Mumbai Indians on a full-time basis since IPL 2013. The most successful captain in terms of title victories, Rohit has captained the side to 5 title wins. Kohli has also been leading RCB since 2013 but an IPL trophy continues to elude the league’s highest run-scorer.

T20 World Cup 2021 is likely to take place from October 17 to November 14.