NEW DELHI, Dec 20: Former Indian skipper Kapil Dev came to the defence of underfire Indian captain MS Dhoni, saying that there was no one in the current Test team who could replace him at the helm, mostly because most of the claimants are themselves out of form.

Kapil dismissed the talk of pitch-forking Virat Kohli into the job. "Virat is undoubtedly a very good cricketer and doing exceedingly well for the country. But he is too young to become the Test captain simply because it won't be easy for him to manage the seniors," Kapil told TOI on Wednesday.

"Indian team doesn't have the option to replace Dhoni. The entire batting unit has failed to deliver in the last one year or so and there is no point singling out the captain. If Virat is made the captain, it won't be good for the team and for the cricketers. What will he be telling the senior cricketers? Who will support him?" the allrounder asked.

He added that it would make sense if Virat was made captain sans the seniors. Oherwise, it may affect his batting adversely if he was made captain at such an early age, Kapil felt.

When reminded that South Africa appointed Graeme Smith as their Test captain at a very early age too, Kapil said: "That South African team didn't have superstars like the current Indian team has and there is no point comparing."

Kapil also referred to his playing days when he was made the captain at a young age. "I didn't know how to manage the seniors when I became leader at the age of 23. There were players like Sunil Gavaskar, S. Venkatraghavan, Mohinder Amarnath and Syed Kirmani and all were seniors.

“I made my debut under Venkataraghavan and after sometime I was his captain. I didn't know what to tell the seniors then. By the time I started learning the tricks of the trade, I was removed from captaincy," he reminisced.—Agencies