Earlier this week the BCCI announced a 16-member squad for the upcoming three-match ODI series against the West Indies. However, several former cricketers, including Aakash Chopra, were shocked to see India opener Shikhar Dhawan appointed as captain to lead the team in the Caribbean with regular skipper Rohit Sharma rested.
Apart from Rohit Sharma, out-of-form star batter Virat Kohli, fast bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant and senior all-rounder Hardik Pandya were also given a break from the series against the West Indies.
Rohit Sharma was rested from last month's T20I series against South Africa and missed the recently-concluded Test against England owing to a positive COVID-19 Test. Virat Kohli too was absent from the five games against the Proteas but took part in the final Test against the Three Lions.
Notably, senior opener Shikhar Dhawan would captain India for the second time in an ODI series, having previously led the Men in Blue in Sri Lanka in three 50-over games last year. Talismanic all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was named as Shikhar Dhawan's deputy.
However, Shikhar Dhawan's appointment as India captain has now been questioned by former cricketer Aakash Chopra.
Surprisingly, India have had eight captains across formats in 2022, something which is baffling to many cricket pundits, including Aakash Chopra.
According to Aakash Chopra by changing captains now and then, the national selectors were taking Indian cricket backward as every skipper has their own thought process and philosophy.
“With so many captains, I have a question about whether getting Indian captaincy has become so easy. Are too many games a reason behind that? Are injuries a reason? Or is it because of the workload management? Is Indian cricket in the right hands? Different captains will have different philosophies so isn't it like we are going in different directions?” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
“When preparing for a World Cup, it is important for a settled squad to play together for a long time. If you keep on giving different players a chance then it's not their fault when they do well. And if some players are out of form and rested then how they will get back to form? I certainly feel you should play as much cricket as possible,” Aakash Chopra added.
Earlier, India head coach Rahul Dravid had mocked working with several captains within a few months. While he claimed that it was because of the depth in talent which India had at the top, many former players weren't buying his argument.
“It's been good fun. It's been challenging as well. We probably had about six captains in the last eight months to work with, that wasn't the plan! But yes, that's just the nature of the game with the pandemic, and the number of matches that we are playing. Managing the squad, the workload, and the changes in captaincy as well. It meant I had to work with quite a few people,” Rahul Dravid had said during the home T20I series against South Africa in June.
“It's just good that a lot of players have got opportunities to lead, for us to create more leaders in the group. As a group, we are constantly learning and improving, playing better. We had the opportunity to try out a lot of different people,” he added.
That number has since then risen to eight after Jasprit Bumrah became the first fast bowler to lead India since 1986 in the recently concluded fifth Test against England at Edgbaston.
Shikhar Dhawan will become the eighth India skipper in 2022 when he will captain the team in the West Indies later this month.
Former Indian wicket-keeper turned television expert Deep Dasgupta too was critical of having multiple national captains.
“It is very important for the team to have a stable captain. The position of the captain had been really in the last few months, especially during England Test or Ireland tour. Due to injury and any other reason, we had to shuffle between captains. But now Rohit is fit and is available for the upcoming games,” Deep Dasgupta told news agency ANI.
“With only 2-3 months left for the T20 World Cup, there are many players who have showcased their spectacular performances. India is left with 20-22 games before the World Cup, so the selectors might have started shortlisting the players for the big tournament. Each and every match will be very important from now on,” Deep Dasgupta pointed out.
India Squad For West Indies ODIs: Shikhar Dhawan (capt), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Ravindra Jadeja (v.capt), Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Avesh Khan, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh
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