India have had eight captains across formats since the 2021 T20 World Cup. And this has happened despite BCCI naming Rohit Sharma as the new all-format captain for the Indian side after Virat Kohli relinquished his Test captaincy and was removed from the leadership role in ODIs. Shikhar Dhawan, an out-of-favour batter in T20Is and Tests, is among them. Having successfully led the side in the ODIs in West Indies, he was handed the responsibility to lead the Indian side in Zimbabwe ODIs as well. But with KL Rahul declared fit for the tour, Dhawan was demoted to vice-captaincy role while the former was named as the new captain. And ex-India selector Saba Karim was left completely unhappy with the move as he slammed BCCI for this captaincy-change trend.
Speaking to India News Sports, Karim questioned the logic behind naming Rahul as the skipper who was returning to the Indian side after a long break from injury recovery. He had missed all of India’s assignments so far after the 2022 season of the IPL.
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“KL Rahul should have played the series only as a member, making him captain or vice-captain is not that important. He is coming after a long break. Shikhar Dhawan is a senior member of the squad who has delivered in white-ball cricket. You have to give him importance once you make the announcement as captain,” he said.
The former national selector further hailed Dhawan’s captaincy in West Indies series where India had won 3-0 while the skipper scored two half-century scores in three innings.
“I would like to add that Shikhar led the side very well against West Indies in the ODI series. He was also decent with the bat. India whitewashed the series with a bunch of youngsters. A lot of them performed very well under his captaincy. Dhawan looked in complete control, whether it was the field setup, tactics, or strategy. He inspired the youngsters as a leader,” he said.
Karim feels that such rapid decisions tends to affect the morale of a player who was already handed the responsibility to lead the side.
“The kind of change in captaincy trend is strange and questionable. Such decisions need to be taken very cautiously. There is no need to rush as it is associated with a team environment, you need to build the team spirit. A captain begins to think about his plans for upcoming matches and then you suddenly make a change. It affects the morale of the cricketer.”
India will played three ODIs in Zimbabwe starting August 18.
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