It was quite a smooth transition when MS Dhoni began stepping down from captaincy roles as his heir apparent Virat Kohli was quickly elevated to take over the reins. And when Kohli decided to step down, Rohit Sharma in an instant was appointed in his place to lead the Indian cricket team.
The Indian team management is fast approaching the stage where they will have to finalise candidate(s) once Rohit leaves captaincy. Hardik Pandya is already leading the T20I team since the end of world cup last year and the search for the right man to captain the Test and ODI teams will have to start soon enough keeping in mind the future challenges.
The need for the search arises not because Rohit hasn’t done a good job as skipper, in fact, he’s been quite impressive. Age is not on his side meaning India have to identify a long-term replacement.
While Pandya seems to be the prime candidate to lead the white-ball teams, in Test, there are multiple claimants including Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer and even Shubman Gill.
So what qualities the team management be looking at while identifying the ideal successor?
Former India selector Bhupinder Singh Sr says there are multiple aspects to look at including cricketing acumen and man management skills.
“Apart from being an automatic choice in the team, you look at the player’s cricketing acumen, body language, ability to lead from the front and man management skills,” Singh told Hindustan Times.
Dilip Vengsarkar was the chief of selectors when Dhoni was named India captain and the legendary cricketer was also judged on these parameters.
“We saw Dhoni’s approach to the game, body language, how he spoke to others; we got a positive feedback,” he said.
Vengsarkar, a former India captain, says domestic tournaments can be used to groom the next set of captains.
“Because you have Duleep Trophy, Irani Cup, you can always groom the players/captains. It’s an opportunity to groom six captains, including one in Irani Cup,” he said.
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