Follow UsOn August 21 (Thursday), Mumbai’s long-time skipper Ajinkya Rahane stepped down as captain, citing the need to ‘groom a new leader’. In the aftermath, several names have thrown their hat in the ring, with Shardul Thakur emerging as the front-runner to replace Rahane.
Former Mumbai wicketkeeper and now turned coach, Sulakshan Kulkarni, backed Rahane’s decision to step down, stating that it is the perfect time for Mumbai to ‘groom youngsters’.
“First of all, very well-played, Ajinkya Rahane. Because I have coached him since he was 16 years old till 25, where we were together for around 8-10 years with the Mumbai U-19 Ranji Trophy and the Indian Oil team. He’s a very sincere, honest and hard-working cricketer. He’s had a long innings and did extremely well as a player captain for both Mumbai and India,” Kulkarni told Cricket.com.
Ahead of their semi-final clash in the upcoming Duleep Trophy 2025, the West Zone selectors named Thakur the captain. Kulkarni sees this as a precursor for the 33-year-old to take over the mantle from Rahane for Mumbai.
“At this stage, he decided to step down and allow the youngster. So, this is the right decision, I feel. Mumbai should look to groom the youngsters. I think they have recently appointed Shardul Thakur as the captain of the West Zone team. If they made that decision, I think they would be looking at Shardul as Mumbai’s captain.”
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But apart from Thakur, Kulkarni believes that Mumbai can groom 30-year-old Shreyas Iyer as the face of the state for years to come. Over the last seven years, Iyer has had solid captaincy credentials at the IPL level, leading Delhi Capitals, Kolkata Knight Riders and Punjab Kings all to the final in various seasons.
Iyer, in particular, has emerged as a leading candidate for India’s ODI job too, given that Rohit Sharma is now 38, and the ODI World Cup is in 2027. Last year, the 30-year-old also successfully led Mumbai to the title against Madhya Pradesh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) final, underlining his captaincy credentials. More recently, the Mumbaikar was appointed as India A's captain for the upcoming two-match multi-day series against Australia, which signals that the management are looking at him as a captain for the future.
“I think so [Iyer can be groomed as next captain], ideally, because Shreyas Iyer has been captaining for so many years, and he’s a brilliant captain. He’s a brilliant leader, and he showed it in whatever opportunities he got. Look at last year’s SMAT, he was Mumbai’s captain, he won the IPL with KKR and took PBKS to the final. He’s a brilliant captain and has more time than Shardul,” he concluded.