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Would appoint Rohit or Ashwin as a stop-gap Test captain: Vengsarkar
NEWS
Follow UsThe 65-year-old feels that the previous selection committees haven't done enough to build a new leader in red-ball cricket
Dilip Vengsarkar wants one of Rohit Sharma or R Ashwin to be appointed as India’s next Test skipper till one of KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant or Shreyas Iyer is ready for the job. Virat Kohli is now no longer the captain of team India in any format. While there was an obvious choice (Rohit) to replace him as captain in the white-ball format, the same is not the case in Test cricket.
"I would appoint Rohit or Ashwin as a stop-gap captain and groom the future captain. Right now, you need somebody with captaincy experience and an assured place in the Test side. Rohit and Ashwin have established themselves in Test cricket," Vengsarkar told the Times of India.
"Pant, Rahul, or Shreyas need another year before they’ll be ready for the job. Pant has proved his mettle, but needs to work on his shot-selection. Till then, either of them can be asked to captain India in the white-ball format, and be the vice-captain in Tests. That way, they’ll get to observe and learn how to lead the Indian team.”
Back in 2007, Vengsarkar, who was then the chairman of the selection committee, and his panel had appointed Anil Kumble as the Test captain for a couple of series, giving MS Dhoni ample time to get himself ready for the leadership role in the longest format of the game. The 65-year-old feels that the previous selection committees haven't done enough to build a new leader in red-ball cricket.
"We wanted to give some more time to Dhoni before he took the Test captaincy. He was already the white-ball captain, and we wanted him to learn a few things by following Kumble closely. Kumble led India superbly in that period.
"It has been caused over the years by the selectors’ lack of vision in grooming a captain for the future. Like we groomed Dhoni, they just haven’t identified the right man to replace Kohli as a captain. I just couldn’t understand why Shikhar Dhawan was named as the captain of India’s tour of Sri Lanka last year."
Recently, Jasprit Bumrah expressed his interest over the leadership role, stating that if given an ‘opportunity’, he will always take it.