BENGALURU: After Indian Test captain Rohit Sharma contracted the COVID-19 virus ahead of the 5th Test against England, there are talks that he might not play the match. In his absence, pacer Jasprit Bumrah is touted to take over the reins.
India have been grappling with a captaincy conundrum since the beginning of the year. As of now, five different players have captained the team across formats in 2022. Till 2021, Virat Kohli was the only captain who helmed India in all formats but after the team’s poor show in World T20 last year, he gave up the captaincy in the T20 format.
However, the trouble started when the BCCI removed him from the ODI captaincy as well. Later, after India’s series defeat against South Africa, Kohli shocked everyone by giving up Test captaincy. KL Rahul was anointed as the captain for the ODI series against South Africa, which India lost 0-3.
After the South Africa tour, the BCCI announced Rohit Sharma as the captain for all three formats. He took to captaincy like fish to water and won the home T20I series against West Indies and Sri Lanka. The 35-year-old also scooped up the ODI series against the visiting Windies.
After the Indian Premier League (IPL), Rohit decided to skip the home T20I series against South Africa and in his absence, KL Rahul was appointed as the skipper. But just a couple of days before the series began, Rahul opted out due to a groin injury. Explosive wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant was named as a stand-in captain in Rahul’s place.
Though India lost the first two T20Is against South Africa, the hosts made a resounding comeback by winning the next two matches under Pant’s aegis. The last match at Bengaluru was washed out and the series was drawn 2-2.
At present, Pant is a part of the Indian squad for the rescheduled 5th Test against England which is slated to take place at Edgbaston from July 1 to 5. Before the Test, Pant also featured in the warm-up match against Leicestershire.
Meanwhile, India are also playing a T20I series against Ireland concurrently in view of the impending World T20 which will take place later this year. For the T20I series, the all-rounder Hardik Pandya – who led debutant Gujarat Titans to the IPL title – is captaining the side.
The fact that India can name two different squads for divergent formats concurrently speaks volumes of their vast talent pool. Also, the team has seen five different captains in the last 6 months and it shows that at present India have many prodigiously gifted cricketers who have the trappings to be the leaders.
The current Indian coach Rahul Dravid also made light of the situation when he talked about his tenure. “It has been quite exciting, it has been good fun. The journey has been challenging as well, there have been probably six captains in the last eight months that I have had to work with, which was probably not the plan when I first started but the nature of COVID and the nature of a number of games we are playing,” he said.
Right now, the Indian team is bursting with talent. Usually, when a team is changing captains frequently it shows instability and abysmal showing, but in the case of India, it’s a different matter. There are many leaders in the team who know how to take up the cudgels and contribute towards sporting success. Exciting times are ahead for Indian cricket.