If not Virat Kohli, then who? 

#1 - Ajinkya Rahane

The current vice-captain of the team, Ajinkya Rahane would naturally be the obvious choice to lead India in case they were to make a change. Rahane, who has been in the role for the last three odd years, has displayed the traits of calmness, maturity, and decisiveness needed to lead an international cricket team. In addition to being the vice-captain of the Indian test team, Ajinkya Rahane has had leadership experience in the IPL, most recently captaining the Rajasthan Royals to the playoffs in this year's edition of the IPL.

While Rahane's captaincy abilities and credentials make him an extremely attractive alternative, as a batsman, he has struggled. Over the last two years, and particularly over the last year, Rahane just has not seemed like the same player. A bad phase that began with a peculiar weakness against the short ball in the home series against New Zealand in 2016 never seems to have fully ended, and Rahane has gradually struggled more and more as a player.

In fact, he has been so out of touch that the team management decided to drop him from the playing eleven at the beginning of the series against South Africa, just earlier this year. While Indian fans will hope that Rahane returns to his previous self, his current inconsistencies do not even make him a certainty in the eleven, which, in spite of his seemingly stellar captaincy credentials and abilities, makes him an extremely unattractive option.

Final Verdict: Seems to possess all the captaincy skills; only if he was as consistent as he once used to be.