Former Indian batter Wasim Jaffer has reckoned that Rajat Patidar deserves India A captaincy. Notably, his comments came after the BCCI named Ruturaj Gaikwad as India A One Day skipper for the forthcoming series against Australia A.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Jaffer also asserted that Ishan Kishan, who led East Zone to a Duleep Trophy title win, also deserves an equal opportunity to lead the One Day squad. He further admitted that Gaikwad was named captain because he is the senior.
“As far as I know, Gaikwad is slightly senior. He has been playing for India A for a while. But it does make sense that Rajat Patidar also deserves captaincy. Even Ishan Kishan. He has been leading well. But you can hand it to anyone out of these three. I don’t think it is that big a matter. Yes, Patidar and Kishan have better credentials, but Gaikwad is slightly ahead in terms of seniority. I don’t think the players will mind,” Wasim Jaffer said on his YouTube channel.
India A One-Day squad vs Australia A: Priyansh Arya, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal [VC], Ruturaj Gaikwad [C], Rajat Patidar, Kumar Kushagra [WK], Nishant Sindhu, Vipraj Nigam, Arshin Kulkarni, Arshad Khan, Naman Dhir, Hardik Pandya*, Prabhsimran Singh [WK], Gurjapneet Singh, Yash Thakur
With Gaikwad dealing with too many injuries and inconsistent batting form, Jaffer further reckoned that Sanju Samson could become the new Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper, adding that the IPL is a result-oriented league.
In addition to giving his view on the A-tour, Jaffer delved deep into Gaikwad’s captaincy and suggested Sanju Samson could captain the Chennai Super Kings IPL franchise.
“It will be a tough call. Gaikwad’s batting form was not great. His captaincy was not that bad. There were issues with injuries and the availability of many players. His batting form was a concern. I think he needs to focus more on that than captaincy. Given how the T20 game is moving, he is currently not playing as per that template,” he added.
“I feel Samson can become captain. The CSK management has to take that call. I don’t think it will be a bad call even if they remove Gaikwad from captaincy. IPL is a result-oriented league, and sometimes emotions have to be put aside,” he concluded.
