New Delhi: Former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar opined that there is no need for India to go for split captaincy in the near future due to the presence of current skipper Virat Kohli.
Several top nations around the world have different captains for different formats, but Team India has the same leader across forms. Australia has Tim Paine for Tests while Aaron Finch takes over the role in white-ball cricket. Similarly, Joe Root leads England in the longest and shortest formats, but hands over the armband to Eoin Morgan during ODIs.
Due to Rohit Sharma’s excellent captaincy track record in T20 cricket, especially in the Indian Premier League (IPL), time and time again spilt captaincy debate opens up in India. But according to Manjrekar, there is no need at all.
My theory on split captaincy is that you don’t go looking for split captains, Manjrekar said during his show ‘Ask Sanjay’ on his YouTube channel. ‘So if you are fortunate to have a captain who is good in all three formats, then you don’t need split captaincy.
At the moment, we have got Kohli who is excellent in all three formats. So, there is no need for India to have split captaincy.
There might come a time in future when India will go for it but it is not something that you seek. If India has an excellent Test captain and Test player but not good enough to be in the 50-over format or T20Is, maybe you can have a different captain. But India is quite blessed at present. In the past as well, MS Dhoni was captaining in all formats because he was good in each one of them.’