“He showed the qualities which make him worthy of India captaincy” – Chandrakant Pandit backs Shreyas Iyer to lead national team in future

Kolkata Knight Riders head coach Chandrakant Pandit has backed Shreyas Iyer to lead India in future. Iyer led KKR to their third IPL title as they defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets in the final at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Sunday.

Iyer was able to get the best out of his players and led from the front throughout the successful campaign. The KKR skipper was spot on with his field placements and bowling changes.

The right-hander also scored 351 runs in 14 innings at an average of 39 and a strike rate of 146.86 in IPL 2024 to deliver the goods for his team. After the IPL final, former Indian batter Robin Uthappa also backed Iyer to become India’s future captain after Rohit Sharma.

Chandrakant Pandit said in an interview with Times of India, “I would give a lot of credit to Shreyas. He’s been a fantastic captain, very calm and cool. He was receptive to our suggestions and handled the team well on and off the field. With KKR, he showed the qualities which make him worthy of India captaincy in the future.”

Meanwhile, Iyer was not included in BCCI’s central contract list before the IPL but Pandit said the exclusion didn’t impact his performances.

“Any player would be disappointed with that (Iyer’s BCCI contract snub). However, that should not affect his performance. Whenever we would discuss anything, we would never touch upon that point. We were clear that the task at hand was more important,” Pandit said.

“I remember that he told me: ‘ Sir, I’ll prove it.’ The way he has batted in this IPL, he now seems to be a more matured, sensible batsman,” he added.

Iyer scored a match-winning fifty in the first qualifier against Sunrisers Hyderabad and he will look to continue the good show.