The treatment of senior Indian batsman Shikhar Dhawan has caused quite the stir among fans and experts alike, after the veteran was stripped of the captaincy of the Indian side for the Zimbabwe series following KL Rahul’s return to the squad.
Dhawan was given the reins of the side beforehand in the West Indies series while KL Rahul was recovering from injury and illness. Dhawan’s leadership during the series was impressive, as per the opinion of numerous experts.
However, immediately following Rahul’s return, the BCCI decided that he would be leading the side, with Dhawan demoted to the vice-captain’s position. Several fans and pundits questioned this decision, as they felt that such a move was incredibly disrespectful to a player of the calibre of Dhawan.
Saba Karim, a former selector himself, called out the BCCI for its ‘strange and questionable’ decisions with regard to the issue of captaincy. He felt that a senior player like Dhawan must have been treated with a lot more respect and dignity and that the BCCI should have honoured their original plan without needlessly rushing to appoint Rahul as captain.
He further took the issue to the fact that since Virat Kohli was relieved of his duties as captain, India have had eight captains, largely owing to Rohit Sharma’s injury concerns. Karim suggested that this sort of musical chairs-like situation would only lead to confusion and ambiguity in the side and would be detrimental in the long term.
“I would like to add that Shikhar led the side very well against West Indies in the ODI series. He was also decent with the bat. India whitewashed the series with a bunch of youngsters. A lot of them performed very well under his captaincy. Dhawan looked in complete control, whether it was the field setup, tactics, or strategy. He inspired the youngsters as a leader,”
Karim said, per the Hindustan Times.
“The kind of change in captaincy trend is strange and questionable. Such decisions need to be taken very cautiously. There is no need to rush as it is associated with a team environment, you need to build the team spirit.
A captain begins to think about his plans for upcoming matches and then you suddenly make a change. It affects the morale of the cricketer.” the former selector concluded.
India will play three ODIs against Zimbabwe starting August 18.
