‘He Can Nurture The Youngsters’ - Dale Steyn Picks His Choice Of The Next India T20I Captain After Virat Kohli
Published - 02 Oct 2021, 07:18 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:57 AM
Former South Africa pacer Dale Steyn has made his pick of the next T20I captain of the Indian cricket team after Virat Kohli steps down. Kohli, who has captained India in all formats since 2017, will be leaving the captaincy post after the ICC T20 World Cup 2021, as he announced a couple of weeks back.
This has opened a Pandora of speculation why Kohli is doing so, despite the Delhi batter saying that he is stepping down as India captain in T20Is to reduce his workload and enjoy his batting more. However, murmurs say that it is because of Kohli’s inability to win a single ICC trophy during his tenure as India captain despite reaching the finals of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 and the 2021 World Test Championship final.
Former South Africa pacer Dale Steyn weighed in on the topic, explaining that India has a huge pool of talent to choose from as their next leader. First, however, he made his pick clear.
He Has Won Numerous IPLs And Can Nurture The Youngsters As Well: Dale Steyn On His Pick As Next India T20I Captain
The one name Dale Steyn emphasized is the most common and favourite to take over after Kohli. That name is of India white-ball vice-captain Rohit Sharma. Rohit has a pretty impressive record in T20 cricket. He is the most successful IPL captain, having led Mumbai Indians to five titles in eight years.
Not only this, but Rohit also won the 2018 Asia Cup in UAE and also led India to the win in the 2018 Nidahas Trophy, and India has won 15 of the 19 matches Rohit has led in. Steyn reckons Rohit could be a great option as it would give youngsters to flourish under him.
“There are just so many of these guys… Iyer, Rohit. They can all do it but you just have to give somebody that responsibility and allow them to run with it. India have been really good with it. They have given the captaincy to one particular players for a long time and they have done the job,” Steyn told Sports Tak.
“They have got a bunch of different people to pick from. I think the most exciting thing for India right now is that the young players that are coming through, they are all world-class players.
“You look at Mohammed Siraj, Rishabh Pant… these are young guys who are doing extremely well at the international level. So if you give the captaincy to Rohit, who has been around for a while… has won numerous IPLs, it will be a great call since he can nurture the youngsters,” Steyn pointed out in conversation with Sports Tak.
Apart from Rohit Sharma, Steyn also named the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Rishabh Pant as youngsters who can be given the job and opportunity to lead India in T20Is.
