Former India coach Ravi Shastri believes the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) provides a great opportunity for the selectors to decide on a future leader. The tournament, which starts from March 26, will see a host of youngsters leading their respective franchise.
KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, and Shreyas Iyer have earlier captained in the T20 tournament, but it will be interesting to see how Mayank Agarwal and Hardik Pandya handle the same responsibility.
Mayank takes charge as the Punjab Kings captain, while Pandya makes his captaincy debut with new franchise Gujarat Titans.
Sharing his views on the same, Shastri while addressing a press-conference organised by Star Sports on Tuesday said: “India will be looking closely at the newcomers who will be captaining teams — whether it is Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya. I know Rishabh over the last few years, he has got one hell of a cricket brain."
“It is a great opportunity for selectors to see how these youngsters captain their sides because India will be looking for a solid captain for the future. Rohit is still around for the next couple of years but after that, they will look for a good white-ball captain and here is the opportunity.”
{{/usCountry}}“It is a great opportunity for selectors to see how these youngsters captain their sides because India will be looking for a solid captain for the future. Rohit is still around for the next couple of years but after that, they will look for a good white-ball captain and here is the opportunity.”
{{/usCountry}}The former India cricketer took the example of Venkatesh Iyer as he tried to explain how the tournament helps in unearthing talent.
"That is the beauty of the IPL, it produces players out of nowhere… Before the start of the season, you might not have seen a player, but after the season, everyone will take a name you have not even mentioned earlier. Last IPL we saw Venkatesh Iyer, no one had heard of him and by the time it got over he was in the Indian team. So you expect the unexpected,” he said.