Tale Of Multiple Captains: Shikhar Dhawan To Lead India On West Indies Tour

Mumbai: It’s not easy to keep track of Team India captains these days.

Ever since Virat Kohli quit the T20 International and Test captaincy, in between being removed from the ODI helm, the Indian team has had a range of skippers in different formats. The volume of cricket that the Indian team has been involved in necessitates multiple captains in different series as well.

Rohit Sharma was chosen as Kohli’s successor, but he has been injured or rested off and on.

Rishabh Pant was elevated to the role of India captain in the 5-match T20I series against South Africa at home last month.

KL Rahul was named Rohit’s deputy for the England tour, but he was ruled out because of a groin injury, paving the way for Jasprit Bumrah to be handed the mantle for the just-concluded rescheduled final Test at Birmingham.

On Wednesday, Team India got its third captain in less than two months as the selectors named senior opener Shikhar Dhawan for the leadership role during the upcoming tour of the West Indies.

Dhawan led India for the first time in July 2021, against Sri Lanka, when he became India’s oldest ODI captain at the age of 35 years and 225 days. He replaced Mohinder Amarnath’s record of 34 years and 27 days.

Ravindra Jadeja has been elevated to the role of vice-captain after his fine performance in the Birmingham Test, which India lost.

India will play three ODIs against the West Indies from July 22 to 27 at Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain.

Since the West Indies tour begins just five days after the white-ball series against England – comprising 3 T20Is and 3 ODIs – a number of senior players have been rested.

Rohit, who will return to lead India in the white-ball games after missing the one-off Test, has been rested for the West Indies tour, as have Kohli, Bumrah and Mohammad Shami.

ODI SQUAD FOR WINDIES TOUR

Shikhar Dhawan (captain), Ravindra Jadeja (vice-captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (WK), Sanju Samson (WK), Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Axar Patel, Avesh Khan, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammad Siraj, Arshdeep Singh,