Shikhar Dhawan has joined the long list of captains who are being chopped and changed in the Indian team. He is reportedly set to lead the team for the Zimbabwe tour starting on August 18th this year.
According to a report by InsideSport, a senior BCCI official said, “Our focus is on T20s as the 20-20 World Cup is approaching. We will have a mixture of youth and senior players. But all T20 regulars will be rested for the series. Shikhar will lead as he is the most senior pro on ODIs.”
The India- Zimbabwe three-match ODI series was slated for 2021, but COVID pushed the tour into mid-2022. VVS Laxman has been promoted to the managerial role for the team as Rahul Dravid would be taking a short break before the Asia Cup.
“Yes, Laxman will be going with the team in Zimbabwe. Rahul has been travelling back and forth with the team and hasn’t had a chance to be with his family. Before Asia Cup, all T20 players will have a short break,” the official said.
Shikhar Dhawan who has also been named to lead the team on the West Indies tour with Rahul Dravid as the coach would now do the same alongside VVS Laxman. Indian Cricket Board president, Sourav Ganguly who recently celebrated his birthday, also does not like the idea of changing captains and coaches frequently but said that it’s unavoidable in the current situation. Speaking to PTI the board president said, “I fully agree that it is not ideal to have seven different captains in such a short span of time but it has happened because of an unavoidable situation. No one is at fault for these situations. The calendar is such that we have had to give players breaks and then there have been injuries and we need to factor in workload management also.”
“You got to feel for head coach Rahul (Dravid) as in every series, due to unavoidable circumstances, we have had new captains,” added the ex-Indian captain.
