Picture Credit: BCCI
After BCCI announced that Team India will be travelling to Sri Lanka for a bilateral series in July, there have been lot of talks about the squad and the captain. Since Virat Kohli and Co. will be in England for the 5-match Test series, the team management will select a new-look squad for the Sri Lanka tour. While players like Suryakumar Yadav, Prithvi Shaw, Hardik Pandya, Shreyas Iyer and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are expected to feature in the team, the fans have been wondering who would be the ideal candidate to lead the Men in Blue.
Why would India need a new captain?
India’s limited-overs skipper Virat Kohli and vice-captain Rohit Sharma will be in England for the Test series. KL Rahul, who has been Kohli’s deputy before in white-ball cricket could have been the next option but he is also expected to fly to England, provided he clears the fitness test. With other exciting possible options like Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja also unavailable, Team India will need to appoint a new leader for the young side travelling to Sri Lanka.
Who could be the ideal candidate?
The Indian squad could feature a few players with some captaincy experience. Shreyas Iyer and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have led their IPL sides in past and could be handed captaincy duties for national side as well. However, according to IANS, Shikhar Dhawan is the likely candidate to lead the Men in Blue for the Sri Lankan tour. The left-handed batsman will be the most experienced player in India's squad for the series and would be the perfect choice to take over the captaincy reigns.
Former Indian cricketer Deep Dasgupta had also vouched earlier for the 35-year-old to be the Indian captain for SL tour. He said, “The senior-most player available in that side is Shikhar, so Shikhar (captaincy option) I guess," as quoted by CricTracker.
The Delhi cricketer has been in the leadership positions before in his illustrious career. Dhawan led his IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2014 for 10 matches. He was also appointed as the vice-captain of Team India for the first time during 2017 Nidahas Trophy where the Rohit Sharma led side went on to win the tournament.