Before 2022, Indian cricket had never had seven different captains in a single year. In actuality, no other team has done so besides Sri Lanka in 2017. In 2017, Sri Lanka had seven captains, although the situation was very different. As the team struggled to achieve the expected outcomes, they were looking for their next leader and had no choice but to test out other choices. There were no such reservations about India. Since February of the current year, Rohit Sharma has served as the captain across all formats. However, the opener hasn’t exactly led India across all formats. Rohit Sharma has participated in just two of India’s seven ODI series since Virat Kohli was replaced as captain.
He missed four days owing to managing his workload and one day in South Africa due to an injury. In Rohit’s absence, either KL Rahul or Shikhar Dhawan took over as India’s captain.
Rohit wasn’t the only player taking breaks to refuel for the T20 World Cup, after all. On the list of BCCI’s workload management were Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ravindra Jadeja. But shouldn’t Rohit have played more given his position as captain? Had he any choices? Hemang Badani, a former cricketer for India, believes he did not because it is “practically impossible” to play in every series.
Hemang Badani said, “With the World Cup coming and with us still at a phase where we aren’t clear about our site, we necessarily have to try out a lot more players. Yes, to a large extent it does help to have the same captain in all formats but it’s practically impossible for Rohit Sharma to be able to play and sustain in every series. They will have to find the right balance but Rohit can’t play every series, that’s not gonna happen. That is going to be the way forward. A lot of us will feel why this should happen now. It was never the case in the past. But cricket has changed now. Every top player on every side does take a break here and there.”
