“Indian captaincy had become musical chairs” - Rajkumar Sharma picks main reasons behind selection committee’s ouster

Virat Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma has opined that the Chetan Sharma-led selection committee failed to put together a stable Indian team and was particularly poor with matters related to captaincy. According to him, these two factors, combined with a few other mistakes, were responsible for them being sacked by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The Indian cricket board invited applications for new selectors just a few days after the Men in Blue succumbed to a 10-wicket loss to England in the T20 World Cup 2022 semi-final in Adelaide.

With the hunt for new selectors underway, Sharma is hopeful that the new committee won’t repeat the mistakes made by the previous one. Sharing his thoughts on India News, the 57-year-old said:

“We had changed around eight captains in 10 months. This is one of the reasons I feel the selection committee has been dissolved by BCCI. They couldn’t put together a stable team. There was no clarity over who would be captain in each format.

"Indian captaincy had become musical chairs. It’s unfortunate. Hopefully, the new selection committee comes in with a clear mindset.”

Chipping in on the captaincy debate, former India keeper Saba Karim pointed out that pushing for Hardik Pandya as the next full-time leader will be tricky considering his history of fitness issues. He elaborated:

“The big question about Hardik is, if he plays both white-ball formats, how long can he survive? Given his history of fitness worries, it is very important to handle him carefully. If he has to play the World Cup, then needs to be given breaks in between.

“Then again, if this mode of thinking is applied, he cannot be made white-ball captain. The main question that the new selection committee will need to answer is - who will lead India in the 2023 World Cup and also who will be his deputy?”

While Pandya led India to a 1-0 win in the three-match T20I series in New Zealand, he has been rested for the ODIs. Shikhar Dhawan will lead the Men in Blue in the ODI matches.

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“In ODIs, he deserves the opportunity” - Former India all-rounder on Rishabh Pant

Team India’s wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant has come under fire for his consistent failures in T20Is. However, Reetinder Singh Sodhi believes that his struggles in another format should not impact his place in the ODI team.

Backing the vice-captain (for the New Zealand series) to find a place in the ODI playing XI, Sodhi commented:

“If you are talking about the ODI team, Pant should definitely be there. He has struggled a lot in T20Is, but in ODIs, he deserves the opportunity. That time has not come yet, where we have to think of whether or not we should include our vice-captain in the playing XI in our one-day team.”

The last time Pant played an ODI, he smashed 125* off 113 balls against England in Manchester in July 2022.