Charanpal Singh Sobti
Currently Rohit Sharma is the captain of India in all three formats for international cricket. The crisis caused by Virat Kohli quitting the captaincy is not recent, but that doesn’t mean that India’s long-standing debate on the need for a captain is over – Rohit Sharma’s age (soon to be 35) Given that, especially for white-ball cricket, a captain who has been with the team for a long time has to be groomed. He has to be identified and linked with Rohit Sharma. So who can be the claimant?
IPL 2022 has started and the eyes of the entire nation are on the new and young Indian captain who is in the fray with just victory – be it Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal or Hardik Pandya. IPL is a great opportunity to see these young captains how they lead their team? Let’s look at these captains:
DC: Rishabh Pant is the most talked about – amazing cricket mind. Young Rishabh has come a long way in his career – despite being just 24 years old. Comparison in everything – with MS Dhoni in wicketkeeping, fast paced and Australian player Adam Gilchrist in left-handed batting. Among his advocates, a special name is former Australia captain and Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting. No one is in a better position than him to discuss the similarities between Pant and Rohit Sharma. Ponting was then part of Mumbai Indians when Rohit was again named captain in the 2013 season. In the coming years, there is every possibility of Rishabh becoming the international captain.
CSK: Just before the start of IPL 2022, Dhoni handed over the captaincy of CSK to Ravindra Jadeja. The star all-rounder, has been in the Chennai Super Kings team since 2012 and only the third player after Dhoni and Suresh Raina to lead the Chennai franchise. There is no dearth of people who believe that there is a plan to prepare Ravindra Jadeja as the captain of Team India. If not now, maybe never because Jadeja is also getting old. There is captaincy pressure on Rohit and Jadeja is one of those players who can share that responsibility.
KKR: Shreyas Iyer, who represented Delhi Capitals till last year, this time the captain of Kolkata franchise – KKR was bought for Rs 12.25 crore in the huge auction and replaced Eoin Morgan as the captain. In comparison, Shreyas Iyer can be called ‘new’ in the discussion of international cricket but has a hidden rut due to his merits. Confidence is the key to success, so Shreyas has it. His recent stellar performances in limited overs and Test cricket for India changed his image completely. The intention to do something special for the new team Kolkata Knight Riders and maybe turn into an advantage for Team India.
LSG: This season in the IPL, the new Lucknow franchise made India’s opener batsman KL Rahul as the captain – till last season he was the captain of Punjab Kings. LSG weaved the fabric of the team around him and he will remain a mark on the team’s cricket. KL Rahul has also been the captain. Now starting a new chapter.
GT: Another new franchise, Gujarat roped in India’s star all-rounder Hardik Pandya as the captain. Hardik, representing Mumbai Indians till last season – was a special part of their setup. He is leading an IPL team for the first time this season and since he was the first cricketer of the team- he has a special role in building the team. The Gujarat franchise’s first season in IPL and the team took him as the first cricketer keeping his Gujarat connection in mind but without any experience of captaincy, Hardik Pandya was appointed captain after seeing his youthful zeal. They can surprise in this IPL.
PBKS: Punjab has got a new captain in Mayank Agarwal – he was retained by the franchise ahead of the huge auction. This is Mayank’s first experience as an IPL captain. If something special happens, they will be contenders only.