5 Reasons Why Indian Cricket Team Should Have 3 Different Captains For All 3 Formats

5 Reasons Why Indian Cricket Team Should Have 3 Different Captains For All 3 Formats. While the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) sacked the entire senior men’s selection committee, reports also emerged that the Men in Blue are set to go for a split captaincy approach.

As per some news reports, when the new selection committee takes charge, it will be mandated to pick captains across three formats, which basically points towards a move in the direction of split captaincy.

Apparently, Rohit Sharma will remain captain in ODIs and Tests for the time being. However, Hardik Pandya is likely to take charge of the T20I team until the 2024 T20 World Cup in West Indies and the USA. With Rohit Sharma being rested for the previous New Zealand tour, Hardik Pandya was named captain of the T20I squad, while Shikhar Dhawan led the ODI team.

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Following Team India’s inability to lift the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia recently, the chorus has grown to replace Rohit Sharma as T20I captain with Hardik Pandya.

5 Reasons Why Indian Cricket Team Should Have 3 Different Captains For All 3 Formats

1. Impractical To Expect 1 Captain To Lead Across Formats

Considering the amount of workload on modern-day players these days, it is absolutely impractical to expect one cricketer to lead the team in all three formats. There was a time till the 1990s when cricket had an “off-season” – a period during which players could rejuvenate as well as prepare for the upcoming challenges.

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With the addition of the T20 format to Tests and ODIs in 2005, the concept of an off-season was thrown out of the window. Instead of having one leader for all formats and allowing him to take breaks, which hampers the momentum and morale of the squad, it would be better to have different leaders at least for white-ball and red-ball cricket. Such a move would enable greater consistency with regard to the availability of captains.

2. Virat Kohli And Rohit Sharma’s Batting Skills Being Burdened By Added Responsibility Of Being Skippers

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are two of the greatest batters to have represented India. However, even with their level of talent and expertise, their batting skills have suffered due to the additional responsibility of captaining the team in all three formats.

Virat Kohli enjoyed being in charge in the first half of his tenure. Leadership improved his batting as he went from strength to strength. But towards the end of his stint, he was clearly burdened by the additional responsibility of the captaincy.

With every failure, the scrutiny on him only increased. It was least surprising then that he decided to quit the T20I captaincy after the T20 World Cup 2021 in the UAE last year. Subsequently, he also gave up Test leadership, not long after being sacked as the ODI leader.

When Rohit Sharma took charge of the Indian team as full-time captain, there was massive hope for him. After all, he is the most successful IPL leader, with five titles to his name (for Mumbai Indians). However, the burden of being India’s all-format leader has brought up a side of the star batter that was hidden deep inside – a grumpy character who reacts to almost everything that happens on the cricket field.

The calm and composed version of Rohit Sharma as a skipper never arrived once he took charge of the team as a full-time leader. Worse, his batting has gone significantly downhill since being appointed all-format captain. He was a shadow of the batter who dominated world cricket during the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia.

3. Most Countries Have Different Captains Based On Formats

If one looks at the other big sides in international cricket, almost all of them have already adapted to the winds of change and have different captains based on the format.

The same is true for Australia, England, Sri Lanka, and South Africa. Apart from India, Pakistan and New Zealand are the other sides, that still have one captain for all formats. But the debate has begun in those two nations as well, urging for format-based leaders.

4. Good Performance Of Hardik Pandya And Rishabh Pant In T20Is, Shikhar Dhawan As Skippers in ODIs

Hardik Pandya has already proven his mettle as a captain in the T20 format. The star all-rounder captained Gujarat Titans to an IPL 2022 title win in their debut season.

Hardik Pandya’s success saw him joining the leadership group in T20Is and he made his captaincy debut against Ireland. He is ahead of Rishabh Pant in the pecking order and could be named the next permanent T20I captain. Hardik Pandya had led India in 5 T20Is and India won 4 of those-2 against Ireland, 1 against West Indies, and 1 against New Zealand. 1 match against New Zealand was tied.

Rishabh Pant has also led India in 5 T20Is with India winning 2 and losing 2 while 1 was abandoned due to rain in the 5-match home T20I series against Proteas. Shikhar Dhawan has led India in 12 ODIs and India have won 7 and lost 3 of those. Under KL Rahul, India won 4 and lost 3 in 7 ODIs and won 1 in the only T20I he captained.

On the Test front, Ajinkya Rahane, Jasprit Bumrah, and KL Rahul were appointed stand-in skippers. KL Rahul lost the only Test he captained against Proteas and Jasprit Bumrah lost the only 5th rescheduled Test he captained against England and Ajinkya Rahane isn’t a part of the Test team nowadays due to poor form.

Under Ajinkya Rahane, India won 4 and lost 2 out of 6 Tests. Even Rohit Sharma is new as Test skipper, winning 2 games against Sri Lanka. Under Rohit Sharma, India won 13 out of 18 ODIs and 39 out of 51 T20Is. So, Rohit Sharma may stay as Test skipper while the likes of Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, and Hardik Pandya may be appointed permanently limited over skippers.

5. 3 Different Captains For All 3 Formats May See Different Set Of Players For All 3 Formats Like England

Since their loss to Bangladesh in the knockout round of the 2015 World Cup, the English selectors have opted for a different set of players for all three formats. The results are for everyone to see, as the team has performed impressively for the last 6-7 years, winning two ICC World Cups- the 2019 limited overs ODI world cup and the 2022 T20I world cup.

Also, they have two different coaches for Red Ball cricket and White Ball cricket. Former New Zealand stumper and captain Brendon McCullum is the coach for Red ball Test cricket, while Matthew Mott is the white-ball limited-overs coach.

Having three different squads for all three formats is the right way to go seeing the workload of senior players and a busy schedule, every player’s presence becomes vital irrespective of the format he is adjusted to and comfortable playing.

Virat Kohli | Rohit Sharma | Rishabh Pant | KL Rahul | Suryakumar Yadav | Sanju Samson | Shreyas Iyer | Yuzvendra Chahal | Jasprit Bumrah