Ex-cricketer Irfan Pathan explains exactly why India should avoid a split captaincy
Former cricketer of Indian cricket team Irfan Pathan has explained the reason why India should not go for split captaincy before the all-format tour of South Africa, which starts with the first T20I in Durban on December 10.
Rohit Sharma is opting to take a break from white-ball cricket after India's defeat in the final of the World Cup 2023. Suryakumar Yadav has been named the T20I captain, while KL Rahul will lead the Men in Blue in ODI format. Rohit Sharma would return to lead India in the 2-Test series.
During a discussion, Pathan said, "This could be a sign for the future, which I am not a big fan of. There has been talk for a long time about whether we can do split captaincy. It's true workload management has been done here, and that is why you are seeing such big squads and different captains.”
He also said, "It's clear that Rohit Sharma had to take a break from white-ball cricket, so you are not seeing him there. You are seeing him as the captain of Test cricket. However, you might see these things going forward. You might even see different coaches for different formats. I believe it's better if it doesn't happen in our culture.”
He further added, “If we see white-ball and red-ball cricket, we only have two or three players who are different, where you can consider players like Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane. However, if you see other than that, we generally have all-format players.
While continuing his statement, Pathan said, "If we talk about our youngsters, you will see Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill playing everywhere. So most of our players are like that, who play all formats. That’s why if you have 70 to 80% of players who play all formats, it’s better if the coach and captain are also the same.”