The selectors I have seen over the last six-seven years neither have the vision, deep knowledge, or cricketing sense: Dilip Vengsarkar

There have been cries for a leadership change, particularly in terms of captaincy, ever since Team India's embarrassing 209-run loss to Australia in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023 finals at The Oval. Although Rohit Sharma's replacement as captain has been advocated by many experts and pundits, it is unlikely that this will happen anytime soon.

Rohit Sharma and team India have a big opportunity to prove the critics wrong, with the ODI World Cup rapidly approaching. India will be hosting the marquee event and will have the home advantage, just like the 2011 edition where they emerged victorious. The Men in Blue haven’t lifted an ICC trophy since the 2013 Champions Trophy, and also have not been the host of any tournament since the 2016 T20 World Cup. 

India have four ICC titles - ODI World Cup 1983, T20 World Cup 2007, ODI World Cup 2011, CT 2013 - and three of them came under the captaincy of legendary wicketkeeper-batter MS Dhoni. The talks around a shift in captaincy have been going on for a while now, and former India selector and a legend of the game Dilip Vengsarkar shared his opinion on the matter.

“The unfortunate part is that the selectors I have seen over the last six-seven years neither have the vision, deep knowledge about the game, or cricketing sense. They made Shikhar Dhawan India captain (when tours overlapped and main players were unavailable); it is where you can groom the future captain,” Vengsarkar said while speaking to Hindustan Times.

Just having IPL, earning crores of rupees in media rights, should not be the only achievement: Vengsarkar

Like several other former Indian cricket players, Vengsarkar too is not happy with the way things are going right now. Dilip, who was a part of the 1983 World Cup-winning team, took a harsh stance towards the previous selectors. He asserted that many people who have held the role in recent years possessed little vision and were unsuccessful in developing a suitable candidate who could succeed Rohit.

“You haven’t groomed anybody. You just play as it comes. You talk about the richest cricket board in the world, where is the bench strength? Just having IPL, earning crores of rupees in media rights, it should not be the only achievement,” he added.