Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill ignored! BCCI's CAC member names Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul among 4 contenders for future India captaincy

Former India selector and BCCI's Cricket Advisory Committee member Jatin Paranjape talked about the potential candidate to be the captain of the India National Cricket Team in the future. He backed one among Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, and KL Rahul to be the leader once Rohit Sharma is gone.

The transition phase in the India National Cricket Team has started. It has begun in the T20I format as greats of the game in Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravindra Jadeja have retired from the format. They did that after winning the T20 World Cup 2024 in Barbados.

The trio retiring now paves the way for youngsters to take charge of the team. With Rohit Sharma retiring as the captain, the bigger question now remains about who will be the skipper of the team in the format and carry the legacy of the senior players forward.

Currently, Hardik Pandya seems to be the prime candidate for the role as he is the vice-captain of the team. But there's no surety if he will be getting the role in ODIs and the fact that he doesn't play Tests, gives rise to more and more questions going ahead.

Apart from him, KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant too seem to be in contention. Since they both play the three formats, there might be a chance that one of them could get the role. All of them captain their teams the in Indian Premier League and have done a decent job.

Former selector Jatin Paranjape backed Hardik Pandya to take over the charge of the team in the upcoming Sri Lanka tour and stated that Rishabh Pant would be his deputy. But along with these two, he also believes that Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul will be in contention for the future captaincy as well. Speaking to Cricket Next, he stated:

"Hardik Pandya will be the natural choice [the for Sri Lanka series], with Rishabh Pant likely becoming his vice-captain. But there are four players in the actual captaincy stakes going into the future: Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, and KL Rahul.

"Let’s not forget that KL Rahul is a fantastic player. There have been some reports about him not being available for ODI cricket. I’m not sure how authentic they are, but he is again a cross-format player."

I think Shreyas Iyer will need to cement his place in the T20 side - Jatin Paranjape

Jatin Paranjape further stated that to be in contention, Shreyas Iyer will have to cement his place in the T20I team. He stressed that all four players he mentioned are young and one of them is likely to be the long-term captain. He added:

"So here are the four names. I think Shreyas Iyer will need to cement his place in the T20 side before he can be thought of as a captain. But here are the four young leaders, and we are seeing them in the IPL as well. So here are the four young leaders, and one of them will be the guy for the long term."

Shreyas Iyer has been away from the T20I format for a while now. Due to the presence of a lot of youngsters, he failed to seal his spot on the team. But he recently won IPL 2024 as the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders and would be hoping to make a return to the team.