Not Rishabh Pant or Hardik Pandya! Sanjay Manjrekar names all-format captain for India after T20 World Cup 2024

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar recently discussed the prospect of appointing an all-format captain for the Men in Blue after Rohit Sharma. Sanjay Manjrekar acknowledged that the BCCI has appointed different captains for T20Is, ODIs, and Test matches in recent years when Rohit Sharma was unavailable.

Rohit Sharma is currently leading the Indian national cricket team in the T20 World Cup 2024. The Men in Blue registered three consecutive victories in the group stage before the fourth and final match was abandoned due to a wet outfield. The Indian team advanced to the Super 8s alongside the USA from Group A.

The Indian team played all of their group-stage matches in the United States of America. The Rohit Sharma-led team will play Super 8 games in the West Indies. India will advance to the semifinals if they finish in the top two places in Group 1, which comprises Australia, Afghanistan, and either Bangladesh or the Netherlands.

The 2007 T20 World Cup champions will face Afghanistan in Barbados on Thursday, June 20. They will take on Australia at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in St. Lucia on June 24. The Rohit Sharma-led team seeks to take revenge for their defeat in the 2023 ODI World Cup final in Ahmedabad last November.

India Have Had Different Captains - Sanjay Manjrekar

In an interview with PTI, Sanjay Manjrekar mentioned Jasprit Bumrah as an example of someone with strong leadership skills who could lead India across formats. However, Manjrekar emphasized that it's unlikely for one player to captain in every match given the demands of the international calendar.

"Even if Rohit Sharma has captained India across three formats in the main marquee events, India have had different captains in T20Is and ODIs and Test matches when Rohit wasn't available in SA (2021-22) for example," Manjrekar told PTI in an interview.

"That happens. But to answer your question, if there is a walk-in when it comes to all three formats plus has leadership skills, I think Jasprit Bumrah is that example but I don't see one player playing every international game in a calendar year, so we will keep having different captains and as I said if you are looking at all for somebody now, I am not at all advocating that Bumrah should be the captain for all three formats but if you ask me would there be one player, I think you have one player there," he added.

Rohit Sharma took over as India's full-time captain for both white-ball formats in December 2021. Rohit will succeed Virat Kohli in the Test format in 2022. Under his leadership, India reached the finals of the ICC World Test Championship, the ODI World Cup in 2023, and the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup in 2022.

The 37-year-old batter might consider retiring from the shorter format after the current T20 World Cup in 2024. There is speculation that the BCCI might start grooming a new T20I captain under a new head coach's tenure.

Also read: Shubman Gill quashes rumors of 'strained relations' with Rohit Sharma with cheeky Instagram story