Wellington, Nov 17: Former India head coach Ravi Shastri feels there should be no harm in India looking at the prospect of appointing a T20I captain in order to change their fortunes in playing the shortest format of the game.
Currently, Rohit Sharma is the Indian skipper across all formats. But India are being led by Hardik Pandya for the T20I series against New Zealand while Shikhar Dhawan will take over as the skipper in the ODI series against the Blackcaps as selectors decided to rest Rohit and other senior players after the end of T20 World Cup.
Pandya had first captained India in a 2-0 away series victory over Ireland June this year, after he led Gujarat Titans to IPL 2022 title in their first appearance of the tournament.
He also led India in the fifth T20I against the West Indies at Lauderhill, USA, in August, where the visitors won by 88 runs to complete a 4-1 series triumph.
“For T20 cricket, there is no harm in having a new captain. Because the volume of cricket is such, that for one player to play all three formats of the game is never going to be easy. If Rohit is already leading in Tests and ODIs, there is no harm in identifying a new T20I captain and if his name is Hardik Pandya, so be it,” said Shastri in a virtual press conference.
Former India left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan felt that processes of having multiple captains in the side were already in place. “I think there are already multiple captains. When you are taking about T20 right now, you have Hardik leading the side, then you have Shikhar for ODIs. Rohit has been there and Virat had been there. You look at the playing eleven who have been a part of the T20 World Cup.”
“There were so many captain who were a part of the squad, like Rishabh (Pant) has captained. All these players are more than capable. It’s just about the planning right now. Depending on the scheduling, planning and workload management, everyone has been seeing these changes. As we speak, these processes are already in place.”
Shastri felt that giving constant breaks to the Indian coaching staff led by head coach Rahul Dravid was not good, citing that player-coach relationship will be affected.
Both Zaheer and Shastri were unanimous in backing young tearaway pacer Umran Malik to be a long-term prospect for the Indian team.
Malik, who caught everyone’s attention with his high speeds in IPL 2021 and 2022, had debuted for India against Ireland and played three T20Is till date. With him being included in the T20I and ODI squads against New Zealand, it will give India much-needed variety in the bowling attack.
“That variety in your pace attack is a must and you have seen teams following that kind of pattern. You need a left-arm bowler, you need someone who can swing the ball, you need someone who be an out-and-out pace,” elaborated Zaheer, a 2011 ODI World Cup winner. (IANS)
