Hardik or Shreyas Who should lead India after Rohit Sharma?
There was a time in Indian cricket when no one wanted a change in captaincy in quick succession rather focus on team performance.
The era of MS Dhoni was the best time as a team for the Indian cricket when there was no such pressure of replacing a captain, as every factor, whether age, overseas win, ICC trophy win, and a perfect blend of players, all factors favouring MS Dhoni’s India.
Dhoni led India in limited overs for over nine years from 2007 to 2017 on a permanent basis, while he remained test skipper for India till 2014, when he announced his retirement from the longest format of the game.
Post Dhoni Era
Virat Kohli was appointed as Indian captain after Dhoni in 2017 and remained the skipper till 2021 T20 World Cup. But since Kohli stepped down from captaincy, India is facing a problem for a permanent and a long-term captaincy option.
Rohit Sharma has been appointed as India’s skipper in all three format of the game and has led the side in 3 ICC events so far (T20 WC 2022, WTC 2023, and ODI WC 2023), but has yet to win any. Now he is all set to lead India in the T20 World Cup 2024.
The Captaincy Puzzle
There is no doubt that Rohit is an excellent player and has a good record as captain in Indian Premier League (IPL). But his breaks due to injuries or workload management in some series in the past 2 years, has made the things quite confusing for the Indian cricket team.
Due to this India has tried many captaincies options in past two years rather sticking to one or two options.
But as Rohit is also turned 37 and there is no surety how long he will play competitive cricket on a regular basis, India is needing a strong candidate for Indian team’s long-term captaincy plan.
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Hardik or Shreyas?
Hardik Pandya is currently serving as vice-captain of team India, but his availability for most of the important series and tournaments is uncertain due to injury issues.
Shreyas Iyer, is that case, can emerge as the best candidate for a long-term captaincy role for team India.
As Iyer is young, 29 years old, has an excellent batting average in all three formats (36.86 in tests, 49.63 in ODIs, 30.66 in T20Is), and a good track record as a captain in IPL.
Iyer has led his side Kolkata Knight Riders to victory in IPL 2024, while maintaining a perfect balance between young and experienced players combination in the playing 11, and solid tactics to beat other strong teams in the mega league.
Given Shreyas Iyer’s good record as captain in most competitive T20 league in the world and a sound experience of playing international cricket, Iyer is surely a solid candidate to lead India after Rohit Sharma.
