Ever since Virat Kohli left the captaincy, Team India has been playing pass the parcel with the captaincy role. Rohit Sharma was named the full-time captain after Kohli. However, with Rohit having the title of the permanent captain, the men in blue have seen 7 captains in the last 7 months. This may look like a chaotic situation for others but, Rohit Sharma thinks it is great to have multiple leading choices.
Rohit spoke about this on Star Sports’ show “Follow The Blues”. He said, “I think it’s very important to have that leadership. But obviously, you know, we play the IPL and it’s a 10-team tournament. So, there will be 10 captains who, at some stage, will be a part of the Indian team as well. You know, I think it’s fantastic because, honestly, my job is much less as these guys understand everything pretty well. So, it’s just about if someone’s having a thought, how am I going to back up that thought? For me, as captain, that is my role and that is what I’m trying to do.”
Rohit Sharma to Shikhar Dhawan, 7 months 7 captains
KL Rahul served as captain of the Indian team during the first Test match of 2022 against South Africa. Virat Kohli then returned to take over as captain for the following match. Following Kohli’s resignation from all three formats as captain, Rohit became India’s all-format captain. Rahul once again functioned as the team’s captain for India’s ODI series against South Africa when Rohit was unavailable due to injury.
Later, Rohit returned from injury and captained India at home against the West Indies and Sri Lanka. After the IPL 2022 concluded, Rahul was scheduled to take over as team captain once again, as Rohit was rested for the five-match T20I series against South Africa at home. But, because Rahul was injured, Rishabh Pant took over as captain. After that, India traveled to Ireland for a T20I. Hardik Pandya led India against Ireland at that time. He became the fifth skipper to lead the Indian squad in 2022.
Jasprit Bumrah was asked to captain India in the lone Test match against England while Rohit, who tested positive for COVID-19, was absent from the squad. Shikhar Dhawan on the other hand led the team in the recently finished ODI series against West Indies. He was also named the captain for the upcoming Zimbabwe tour.