Should Rohit Sharma be India’s T20I captain: Kapil Dev opines against split captaincy in Indian cricket

Kapil Dev opines against split captaincy: The former Indian captain wants one captain to lead the Indian cricket team across formats.

Former India captain Kapil Dev has expressed displeasure against modern-day fast bowlers who don’t tend to rely on swing but opt to bowl cross-seam or at excessive pace to disrupt the batsmen.

Speaking during the HT Leadership Summit, Dev spoke highly about the Sunrisers Hyderabad-pair of Sandeep Sharma and T. Natarajan for both the bowlers are coming on the back of a successful Indian Premier League season individually.

In the absence of senior pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sharma and Natarajan accounted for 30 dismissals between them as the duo played a vital role in Sunrisers’ journey to the playoffs.

“I am not happy with [modern-day] fast bowlers. The first ball cannot be cross-seam. Players in IPL [2020] realised that swing is more important than pace. Sandeep [Sharma], who bowled 120 kph, was tougher because he was moving the ball.

“Bowlers have to understand it’s not the pace, it’s the swing. They should learn but are running away from art. T. Natarajan was my hero of [this] IPL. Young boy was fearless and bowling so many yorkers,” Dev was quoted as saying at the HT Leadership Summit.

Kapil Dev opines against split captaincy in Indian cricket

With India white-ball vice-captain and Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma leading his IPL team to their fifth title, there have been a lot of suggestions around Sharma’s promotion as India’s T20I captain. While the current captain in Virat Kohli has exceedingly well both as a captain and batsman in T20Is, him not winning any multi-team tournament works against him in captaincy debates.

Being asked about the same, Dev opined against split captaincy in Indian cricket highlighting the same to a cultural thing which might affect the approach of players who will have to play different formats under different captains.

“In our culture, it is not going to happen that way. In one company you make two CEOs? No. If [Virat] Kohli is going to play T20Is and he is good enough. Let him be there. Even though I would like to see other people coming out. But it’s difficult.

“Our 80 per cent, 70 per cent of the team across formats is the same team. They don’t like captains having different theory. It may bring more differences between the players who look up to the captain. If you have two captains, players might think he is going to be my captain in Tests. I will not annoy him,” Dev added.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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