Why KL Rahul as a Captain is a good or bad choice?
When it was announced that Rohit was injured it was most likely that he might not be available for the tour of South Africa, it was naturally a big blow for Team India and after the nightmarish tour of South Africa, where India lost test series 2-1, despite winning the first test and was whitewashed in the subsequent one-day series, definitely a remarkable success for Proteas, and an eye-opener (as per some cricket pandit) for the Indian cricket team. for me it's just another defeat against a team which played extremely well.
As Rohit Sharma wasn't available, there were some whispers that Virat Kohli (who was asked to resign from one-day captaincy by BCCI) might lead the one-day squad, however, BCCI showed their trust in Kannur Lokesh Rahul.
Rahul, who had only experience of leading his former IPL side King's XI Punjab, also led the Indian Test team in the 2nd test match against South Africa in Johannesburg because Virat Kohli was out of the test match due to back spasms, started well he scored a half-century but after that nothing went in his way.
Despite the failures, It is quite evident that BCCI sees Rahul as the future captain for India, as coach Dravid mentioned that Rahul will only improve as time progresses, let us just check why it was a good or bad choice :
Good head on the shoulders: For me at least, Rahul seems to have quite a good head on his shoulders, when he was leading KXIP they lost some close encounters but Rahul was never seen losing his balance, despite being inexperienced, it has been seen in the past that patience has actually borne fruits, let us hope that Rahul can achieve the success his peers has achieved.
Inexperience: Lokesh Rahul's inexperience might be the real reason behind team India's lacklustre performance, international cricket is a different ball game altogether, it's not easy to lead a national side and in almost all the matches it was look like that Rahul was mostly out for ideas which will come with more time and experience.
In good company: Rahul has two good captains at the squad, Rohit and Kohli through whom he can learn, after recovering from the injury Rohit will be back as captain and Rahul will be seeing and learning very closely from his captain.
Age at his side: Rahul is 29 at this moment and still have 5-6 years of cricket is left within him, with Virat (33) and Rohit (34) are almost at the last stage of their career, so at the moment it is safe to say that Rahul might be the ideal person to lead team India again at the future, it can be also a positive message to the team that it still has some good options as a leader.
Has good support: Rahul has got good support from the selectors, coach Rahul Dravid and Seniors, despite the failure, they've supported the captain and mentioned that Rahul will learn from this experience and will come back strong.
Lack of choices: Currently it seems that Indian team has some lack of leaders in white ball cricket with Kohli out of contention and Rohit injured their is hardly any name that gives a slightest of hope of being a leader, some regulars which can be seen as a future prospects are :- Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, however Shreyas Iyer isn't a regular feature of ODI cricket as of now and despite some brilliant innings by Pant people are still questioning about his maturity.
A message: By elevating Rahul as a captain, BCCI and selectors are sending a positive message to the other members that if you can perform and show results we're there for you, we can put our trust in you and you can be assured that one day you'll be at the top of the ladder.
Future captain : Despite not getting the ideal results I believe that Rahul will get the opportunity to lead India again and with experience he'll be successful as well, if that doesn't happen, well that won't be the first time that a talented cricketer become a great captain, but ideally their is no point in giving Rahul the captaincy for a short stint if BCCI not going to provide Rahul another chance to prove himself as a leader, For me, at the moment, I believe Jaspreet Bumrah can also be a prospect to lead Indian team in the future, he has a good head on his shoulder and he already proved himself as a champion bowler and he can handle pressure situations as well.
I believe that BCCI has the best person at the helm of affairs at the moment and he'll take best decisions which will help team India to achieve more success in future.
Please comment and let me know who could be the best person to lead India in future.
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