Virat Kohli
Virat Kohli.ICC Twitter

Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir on Thursday said that captaining a franchise is much tougher than leading the national team.

The cricketer-turned-politician said during an interaction with students of a university, that if we need to compare what Rohit Sharma and Mahendra Singh Dhoni have achieved for Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings to what Virat Kohli has achieved for Royal Challengers Bangalore, then we will understand the situation.

The 37-year-old World Cup-winning cricketer said that Kohli was a good captain in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 because of the presence of Dhoni and Rohit in the team. He thinks that their presence adds a lot of efficiency to the squad.

Gambhir's comments indicate that he may be calling Rohit a better option for captaincy.

"Still a long way to go for him. Kohli was very good in the last World Cup but he has a long way to go. He captains so well in international cricket because he has got Rohit Sharma, he had MS Dhoni for a long time. Captaincy credentials are noticed when you are leading a franchise when you do not have other players supporting you," Gambhir told the reporters

Virat Kohli Jasprit Bumrah MS Dhoni Rohit Sharma
Reuters

"I have been honest whenever I have spoken about this. See what Rohit Sharma has achieved for Mumbai Indians, see what Dhoni has achieved for Chennai Super Kings. If you compare that with RCB, the results are there for everyone to see," the former cricketer added.

However, Indian captain Virat Kohli recently became the most successful captain of Team India in Tests, after he surpassed Dhoni's record of 27 wins as Test captain.

The 30-year-old Indian skipper has faced the wrath of critics for his captaincy in the past but the record he possesses indicates otherwise.

The Men in Blue have been in scintillating form after their semi-final exit from the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. Team India was outstanding in the Caribbean tour as they did not lose even a single match.

The Indian cricket team are slated to face South Africa in the final fixture of the three-match series on September 22 in Bengaluru. India currently has a 1-0 lead in the series after winning the second match, as the first one was washed out due to rain.