Indian team is in search of a leader: Irfan Pathan [Exclusive]

Former Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan recently expressed his opinion on Shubman Gill requiring more time to settle into the captaincy role of the Indian team, much like his predecessors. Gill was recently appointed as India’s full-time Test skipper. He has also captained India in ODIs previously and has been appointed as the vice-captain for the 2025 Asia Cup.

Irfan reflected on the various phases of Indian cricket when the likes of MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma took over as full-time captains. He later concluded that Indian cricket and the senior selection committee has always been in a lookout for a figure who can lead the team to the next level, succeeding those who vacate the spot.

“The Indian team is in search of a leader at the moment. When it comes to MS Dhoni, there was a transition as well when he came as a captain. Luckily, we won the World Cup straightaway, and the transition was very smooth. And then, Virat Kohli came in and he took over as well. He had done well in Test cricket. Then, Rohit Sharma came, and he has done fantastically well. We are always in search of a leader who can take Indian cricket forward,” stated Irfan in an exclusive interaction with CricTracker during an interaction on Sony Sports Network.

Gill has been appointed as India‘s vice-captain for the upcoming Asia Cup. The squad will be led by Suryakumar Yadav in the eight-team tournament. India are placed in Group A alongside Pakistan, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. They will be up against the arch-rivals Men in Green on September 14 in a high-octane clash at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

The Punjab batter’s recent captaincy assessment was a success. His on-field leadership was praised by the cricket fraternity after he led India to a famous series draw against England in his first assignment as India’s captain. He also emerged as the Player of the Series (754 runs in 10 innings) as the five-match series ended with a 2-2 margin.

India are also the co-host of the next major ICC tournament in the form of the T20 World Cup next year. It could be highly likely that Gill could become the all-format captain by then, however, there are no dark clouds looming over Suryakumar Yadav’s future as India captain in the shortest format of the game just yet.

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