Don’t rush Virat Kohli as skipper in all formats: Sunil Gavaskar

A day after Sourav Ganguly raised a question mark over Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s long-term future as India’ ODI and T20 skipper and pitched for Virat Kohli, former captain Sunil Gavaskar said the star batsman should be given some more time.

“Virat should not be rushed into captaincy in all formats. Let him grow into this role ... the 2019 World Cup is far away,” Gavaskar told a news channel in sharp contrast to Ganguly’s opinion.

Ganguly on Tuesday had backed Test skipper Kohli as the one for the future, saying that if the selectors were looking ahead to the 50-over World Cup in 2019, it was best to look beyond the 34-year-old Dhoni.

“Dhoni has been captain for nine years, which is a long period. He has been fantastic in the way he has gone about his job as captain, but does he have the ability in next four years to see India into the World Cup in 2019.

“Does he have it in him to go for another four years He has already given up Test cricket and now plays only ODIs and T20s,” Ganguly said.

Kohli has been in brilliant form of late and is currently the top run-getter in the Indian Premier League. His IPL team Royal Challengers Banga-lore, however, have not been consistent. Gava-skar said the bowlers had let the team down.