Former Australia skipper and Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Ricky Ponting has favoured Rohit Sharma to lead as India’s next Test skipper  looking into his magnificent record as a leader. After becoming T20I skipper in November

Ricky ponting talked about the time when he was with the Mumbai Indians and Rohit Sharma took over the captaincy.

“I was at Mumbai Indians when Rohit Sharma took over the captaincy there. I was bought in the auction to be their captain and unfortunately, I wasn’t playing well enough after the first few games to keep myself in the team, so I had to make room for another international player to come into the side,” the ICC website quoted Ponting as saying.

“I was at Mumbai Indians when Rohit Sharma took over the captaincy there. I was bought in the auction to be their captain and unfortunately, I wasn’t playing well enough after the first few games to keep myself in the team, so I had to make room for another international player to come into the side,” the ICC website quoted Ponting as saying.

Rohit Sharma had earlier missed the series against South Africa due to left hamstring injury but has now recovered and will be seen leading the side in the upcoming white-ball series against the West Indies.

“I think the proof is in the pudding with what he has done at the Mumbai Indians since that moment on. He has been a very successful leader there and has been when he has led India on a few occasions as well. If I go back to what I said at the start about being on top of your game when you take over a captaincy role, then it is pretty hard to argue after what he has done with his Test cricket in the last 2-3 years. He has played as well as anybody in the world through that period of time, and we know how good he is as a white-ball player,” said Ponting.

“They (BCCI) will have a decision to make what they want to do with their roles as well, whether they split roles or they want to keep the same captain for all formats,” Ponting added.

Additionally Speaking about Ajinkya Rahane and KL Rahul  as leaders, Ricky Ponting said:

“To be honest, I have worked with Ajinkya – he is just a great bloke, a very, very good player. He hasn’t had his best period with the bat in Tests, but we saw what he can do leadership-wise in the series against Australia last summer.”

“I don’t know KL Rahul well – his name’s been thrown around a little bit. All reports I hear about him is he is a terrific guy, and he’s playing very well and starting to put together a really good Test record, particularly overseas which is impressive. There will be a few names that will be thrown around,” he further added.

Rohit Sharma was signed by Mumbai Indians (MI) in 2011 auction. In 2013 Rohit Sharma replaced Ricky Ponting as the captian of Mumbai Indians (MI) and the team went on to win their firt IPL title under his captaincy.