New Delhi, Jan 23 (IANS): Former head coach Ravi Shastri has said that Rohit Sharma should be made a full-time Test captain of India, provided the senior batter can maintain his fitness.

Rohit was appointed as India's Test vice-captain in December last year.

However, the Mumbai Indi'ns' skipper was not able to travel with the Indian team to South Africa due to a hamstring injury he picked up last year.

KL Rahul was then appointed Kohli's deputy ahead of the tour of South Africa. But after Virat stepped down from Test captaincy, the search for next leader has begun.

To this, Shastri came forward and shared his view.

"If Rohit is fit, why can't he be the captain in Tests too. He was appointed vice-captain for the South Africa series but he couldn't go there because of injuries. So why not, if he was made the vice-captain, why can't he be promoted to captaincy." Shastri told India Today.

Rohit, who is likely to lead India across all formats, is currently 34 and India is certainly going to look towards grooming a youngster for the leadership role in the future and Shastri bats for Rishabh Pant.

He said the 24-year-old wicketkeeper-batter should be kept in mind when the selectors and the team management are discussing the future captain.

"Rishabh is a tremendous young player. As a coach, I was very fond of him, his attitude and the good thing about him was that he would always listen to you.

"A lot of people say, he always does what he wants but that's not true. He reads the game well and would always put my team effort first than self. So, he should always be kept in mind for leadership," Shastri added.