Rohit Sharma, The marquee Indian opener was appointed as India’s T20I captain after the T20 World Cup, last year (2021). He eventually took over as the side’s skipper in the 50-overs cricket followed by the red ball cricket in March.
The Mumbaikar is now all set to lead the Indian team in the two marquees’ upcoming ICC events namely the T20 World Cup 2022 and ODI World Cup 2023. He has captained the team in multiple test matches in the ongoing ICC World Test Championship cycle.
Having mentioned that, Sharma is now 35 years old and in all fairness, he is unlikely to continue as the captain of the team after next year’s World Cup. There are several candidates available in the team who possess the caliber to lead the national team after Rohit Sharma ends his tenure.
The Chetan Sharma-led five-member BCCI selection committee has publicly confessed that they want Rohit Sharma to groom upcoming leaders and it was a big reason behind him being announced as the captain. KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, and Hardik Pandya are some prominent captaincy options.
Robin Uthappa comes up with a unique suggestion:
Meanwhile, Robin Uthappa has opened up about the same during an interaction with ChatRoom. He wants India to take the split captaincy route like England, South Africa, and Australia. The opening batter is keen on having two captains – one for limited-overs cricket and one for red-ball cricket.
Uthappa has backed Jasprit Bumrah to take the leadership role and believes that the right-arm pacer would be a ‘great test captain’, while he named KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant as the contenders for the captaincy in ODIs and T20Is.
As things stand, The opening batsman KL Rahul, who is also India’s all-format vice-captain is considered to be the top contender for the role. However, It will not be a surprise if the BCCI selection committee chooses to go with another option.
Here’s what Robin Uthappa said:
“According to me, (Jasprit) Bumrah would be a great captain for Test cricket. For ODI and T20I, the choices would be KL Rahul or Rishabh Pant.”