Captains who might lead their respective teams in T20 World Cup 2020

Shakib Al Hasan. (Photo Source: Twitter) The seventh edition of the T20 World Cup will be hosted in Australia. A total of 16 teams will take part in the tournament out of which ten teams are already qualified. The top-nine ranked teams excluding hosts and Australia (hosts) will get a direct entry into the tournament. In a tournament as big as this one, captaincy will play a huge role and every move could make a massive difference. With the World Cup 2023 coming up, a few of the teams might want to explore different opinions for the captaincy role. Thus, each of the ten teams has got potential alternatives who can take up the responsibility. However, at the same time, some of the teams will not want to shuffle around with the captaincy. Therefore, here are the potential options to lead their respective teams in the T20 World Cup 2020. Captains who can potentially captain their teams in T20 World Cup 2020 1. Australia – Steve Smith Steve Smith. (Photo Source: Twitter) Without a doubt, Steve Smith is right up there amongst the best batsmen in the Australia team right now. From being a leg-spinner to evolving into one of the best batsmen in the world is quite remarkable. There were no questions about the person who’d be leading Australia across formats before the ball-tampering incident. Smith was doing a fair job across all the formats and would have even led the team in the World Cup 2019 if everything panned out as per plans. However, one mistake cost him one year of his career. Moreover, he has stripped off his captaincy and will not be allowed to take up the responsibility until next year. Currently, Australia has got split captaincy in Tests and limited-overs cricket. While both Tim Paine and Aaron Finch are doing a good job, the Kangaroos could give the responsibility back to Smith once his ban is lifted. Thus, he can potentially lead the team in the T20 World Cup. 2. Pakistan – Babar Azam Babar Azam. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images) Of late, there has been a lot of debate about the captaincy of Pakistan. The fans were clearly not impressed with the leadership of Sarfaraz Ahmed in the World Cup 2019. If the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is looking for a change of leadership, this could be the ideal time. While there is no established leader in the team barring the seniors, Babar Azam is a name that is doing rounds around the cricketing circles. He has been a highly dependable batsman for Pakistan. The 24-year-old is scoring runs all around the world and is highly rated by many of the cricket pundits. Moreover, Babar has got the experience of leading Pakistan at the U19 level. In the U19 World Cup 2012, he was the leader of his team and guided them to the final. However, they couldn’t get through and lost the final against India. 3. India – Rohit Sharma Rohit Sharma. (Photo Source: Twitter) For all of you who follow Indian cricket closely, both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are well-established leaders. The side has registered some of the most memorable victories under both of them. However, there have been several demands that Rohit should be given the charge. Kohli, thus far, is yet to win a major trophy as a captain. Under him, the side lost the final of the Champions Trophy 2017. Also, the team couldn’t go the distance in World Cup 2019 and were knocked out in the semis. On the other hand, Rohit made great use of whatever chances he’s had. He won the Nidahas Trophy and Asia Cup with relatively young sides. Furthermore, Mumbai Indians won the IPL under him four times which shows how good a leader he is. Thus, if the management decides to go against Virat, he could be an excellent option to lead the team. 4. England – Jos Buttler Jos Buttler. (Photo by Gareth Copley-IDI/IDI via Getty Images) England is one of the teams that has always believed in split captaincy. For all the three formats of the game, they had usually had three different leaders. But of late, Joe Root has looked after Test cricket while Eoin Morgan is doing the job in white-ball cricket. Eoin Morgan is doing a fair job but England can possibly explore other options for T20 cricket. Experimenting in the shortest format of the game could give them the flexibility to build a team for the World Cup 2023 right now. By then, Morgan will be 36 years old and Jos Buttler is an option ECB can look at. He is one of the most destructive batsmen around and is undoubtedly the best finisher of late. Buttler is also the vice-captain of the team across all the formats and has got enough experience of leading the team. Thus, he could be tried out for the T20 World Cup 2020. 5. South Africa – Rassie van der Dussen Rassie van der Dussen. (Photo by Lee Warren/Gallo Images/Getty Images) Other than Faf du Plessis, South Africa doesn’t have many options to explore from the younger lot of their players. The situation of the Proteas side is quite tricky at the moment with some of the seniors retiring. The other senior players like Hashim Amla are struggling with the form. And, the youngsters are still trying hard to find their feet and establish themselves. Quinton de Kock is one of the options that they have but he isn’t quite the captaincy material they’d hope for. Thus, out of the remaining possible options, Rassie van der Dussen is a good choice and has more or less established himself as an important white-ball cricketer. Rassie has got an immense experience of playing in domestic cricket. He is a good thinker of the game and has shown the ability to analyse different situations well. His batting style is more or less like Du Plessis as well and South Africa can look at his as a future prospectus. 6. New Zealand – Kane Williamson Kane Williamson of New Zealand (Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images) At the moment, New Zealand has got no other option than Kane Williamson and they wouldn’t bother about the same. The 28-year-old is an excellent strategist and has done a brilliant job thus far across all the three formats. Thus, he should continue for the T20 World Cup 2020 as well. Kane Williamson is an excellent strategist and is brilliant with his moves. He adapts himself to different conditions really well and knows how to use the resources that he’s got. The Kiwi skipper led his team to the final in the World Cup 2019 and almost won it as well. However, on a few occasions, the luck didn’t favour him and he ended up on the wrong side of the result. Though, he will look to make up for this heartbreak with a better performance in the upcoming World Cup in Australia. Williamson has got some great resources at his disposal for the same. 7. Windies – Carlos Brathwaite Carlos Brathwaite. (Photo Source: Twitter) Windies cricket will be in a kind of dilemma while picking their captain for the assignments ahead. Out of nowhere, they named Jason Holder the leader of the side for the World Cup 2019. While Holder has performed decently well as a player, he wasn’t able to inspire his troops to some big wins. Though, there is every possibility that he will continue as the ODI skipper. For T20I cricket though, Windies might go back to Carlos Brathwaite. He has won the T20 World Cup 2016 for them with some brilliant performance in the final. Brathwaite is a good player and handles pressure well. Also, he is quite an aggressive character while leading the side. He charges up his troops with his intensity and is good enough a tactician. Out of all the options that are available, he seems to be the best choice that Windies can go ahead with. 8. Afghanistan – Rashid Khan Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi. (Photo Source: Getty Images) Afghanistan recently named Rashid Khan as the captain of the side across all the three formats after the World Cup 2019 debacle. Just a few days before the mega-tournament, the cricketing board in the country decided to sack Asghar Afghan and make Gulbadin Naib the captain. However, that didn’t really work out as Afghanistan failed to win even a single game in the tournament. Now, with Rashid named the leader of the side, one could expect that there should be some stability. Ideally, he should be given the long run and they should invest in the leg-spinner. Under him, the side earlier won the Qualifier tournament for the World Cup 2019. He is a quick learner and has got the experience of playing all across the globe. If he could make good use of whatever he has learnt thus far, Rashid can guide Afghanistan to some memorable victories. 9. Sri Lanka – Kusal Perera Kusal Perera. (Photo Source: Getty Images) Just like Afghanistan, there has been a lot of instability around Sri Lanka’s captains across all the formats. In the last two years or so, the side has seen several captains. Of late, the likes of Angelo Mathews, Lasith Malinga and Dimuth Karunaratne have taken up the responsibility. Dimuth has done a fair job thus far and might continue leading the side in Tests and ODIs. However, it is important to keep the future in mind and build the right kind of platform at this point in time. Sri Lanka can possibly look at Kusal Perera as an option to lead the team. Kusal has been featuring in all the three formats of the game and is an integral part of the set-up. He should enjoy the additional responsibility and that might even help him perform at a consistent rate. If he succeeds with this assignment, he can also lead the ODI team in the future. Bangladesh – Shakib Al Hasan Shakib Al Hasan. (Photo Source: Twitter) Bangladesh will be led by Shakib Al Hasan in the World Cup 2019. The veteran cricketer is possibly in the form of his life at the moment and was one of the best performers at the quadrennial event. He not only scored over 600 runs in the tournament but also picked up some crucial wickets for his team. Shakib has had experience of leading the team in the past and has been doing the same in the shortest format of late. Given the fact the Mashrafe Mortaza’s retirement might be just around the corner, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Shakib is handed over the responsibilities across all the formats as well. While his captaincy record might not be amongst the best, Shakib is a good thinker of the game and has is a street-smart cricket. His immense experience should come handy for Bangladesh. He will definitely be leading the team in the T20 World Cup next year.

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Captains who might lead their respective teams in T20 World Cup 2020

For most of the teams, the split-captaincy aspect would be applicable for the shortest format.

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