Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has put his weight behind Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant to take over the Indian captaincy baton in the future. Gill has been in terrific form in the recent past whereas Pant is recovering after suffering multiple injuries in a horrible car accident.
Pant has led Delhi Capitals for one-and-half season and has also played the vice-captaincy role for the national team. On the other hand, Gill has shown the potential to go a long way in his career but he hasn’t yet performed any leadership role.
Chopra feels there will be split captaincy in the Indian team and Hardik Pandya will lead the team in the 2024 T20 World Cup.
“I don’t think we will see a single captain for all formats just yet, I think those days are over. Rohit Sharma will be the Test team’s captain till the WTC, that’s not going to change – it is going to stay like that. Hardik Pandya is currently the captain in the T20 format, and I think he will continue to do so and in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, you will see Pandya be the captain of the Indian team,” Chopra said on JioCInema’s new daily sports show Aakashvani.
Chopra reckons Rohit Sharma will continue to lead in the 50-overs version but Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill are India’s future captains.
“In One-Day cricket, Rohit Sharma will continue to be the captain till the World Cup. But I think in the long term, in terms of India’s captaincy, it will be Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant. These are my two candidates for India’s captaincy in the future,”
Both Pant and Gill still have a lot to learn as leaders and they are expected to get better. Pant has been force to reckon with in Test matches whereas Gill has taken the ODI cricket by storm. Thus, both of these young players will want to continue their upward swing in the upcoming future.
Meanwhile, India lost the first T20I against New Zealand by 21 runs and they will be looking to stay alive in the series in the second T20I, which will be played in Lucknow on Sunday.
