"Captaining a team is difficult when the main players are rested" - Parthiv Patel on Shikhar Dhawan's leadership

Former Indian cricketer Parthiv Patel feels opener Shikhar Dhawan has done a thankless job of being India's stand-in captain whenever required. Dhawan captained India on the Sri Lanka tour last year and also in the ODI series earlier this month against the West Indies.

On both occasions, Patel stressed how most of the senior players were rested and how Dhawan had to work with youngsters keen to prove a point to the selectors. The 37-year-old feels the biggest positive about Dhawan's captaincy has been the way he has let the youngsters express themselves by giving them the freedom to make their own decisions.

Speaking in a video on his YouTube channel on Saturday, here's what Parthiv Patel had to say about Dhawan's role as captain:

"Shikhar Dhawan has a pretty laid-back style of captaincy where he doesn't take too much pressure and keeps the team atmosphere light. He does back his players, but most importantly he also gives them space to execute their own plans. This is so important because captaining a team is difficult when the main players are rested. The fringe players need to be given confidence in executing their skills and Dhawan has done that really well."

Parthiv Patel on captain Rohit Sharma's strengths

Parthiv Patel won a couple of IPL titles with Mumbai Indians in 2015 and 2017 and has quite a lot of memories of playing under captain Rohit Sharma. He pointed out how Rohit backs his players even when they haven't performed to their potential. On this, he stated:

"I have played under Rohit Sharma's captaincy at Mumbai Indians and the one thing that stands out is how he backs players who aren't performing. He is vocal about them even in public and in press conferences, as we saw with the case of Avesh Khan. Rohit backed him even after four failures and he delivered with a Man-of-the-Match performance."

Parthiv Patel also spoke about how good the 35-year-old is with his on-field decisions, where most of them are on the spot, depending upon the situation. On this, he said:

"Rohit Sharma believes in taking instinctive decisions on the ground rather than pre-meditating them. When a crunch situation arises, he takes a call according to the situation and it is one of the main reasons why he has won five IPL trophies with Mumbai Indians. India have also won multi-national tournaments like the Asia Cup and Nidahas Trophy under Rohit's captaincy."

Will India finally be able to end their 9-year wait for an ICC Trophy with the T20 World Cup win under Rohit Sharma? Let us know in comments.