No Vision: India Look For Rohit's Successor

Good teams thrive on a clear line of succession. Earmarking your future leader ensures a smooth transition process and the results are there to see when it has been implemented well. From M S Dhoni to Virat Kohli from Brendon McCullum to Kane Williamson, from Ricky Ponting to Michael Clarke, the baton was passed on smoothly and success followed. This time though, despite the transition phase being upon India, surprisingly there’s no clear succession plan in place.

- Sanjjeev K Samyal

Skipper Rohit Sharma’s future in the job will largely depend on India’s showing in the ODI World Cup in October-November. Even if the hosts do well and BCCI is happy to continue with Rohit, grooming candidates for the leadership role is crucial. Otherwise, there can be a void.

“The unfortunate part is that the selectors I have seen over the last six-seven years neither have the vision, deep knowledge about the game or cricketing sense. They made Shikhar Dhawan India captain (when tours overlapped and main players were unavailable); it is where you can groom the future captain,” said Dilip Vengsarkar, former India captain and chief selector.

Now, the question is, who after Rohit? “You haven’t groomed anybody. You just play as it comes. You talk about the richest cricket board in the world, where is the bench strength? Just having IPL, earning crores of rupees in media rights, it should not be the only achievement,” Vengsarkar said.

The 116-Test veteran pointed out the appointment of the West Zone skipper. “In the West Zone side for Duleep Trophy, we have picked Priyank Panchal (33) as captain when you could have groomed a future India player like Ruturaj Gaikwad. That is what I call a lack of vision for the game.”

For India, potential candidates who were seen as leadership material have lost form or are dealing with injuries -- KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer. This adds a new challenge to the transition phase.

KL Rahul is the favourite for Test captaincy, though his inconsistency leaves a question mark. Rahul’s last Test half-century was in January 2022, against South Africa. Since then, in 10 innings, his highest score is 23.