Saba Karim picks KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant as India's future white-ball captains

Former wicketkeeper-batter Saba Karim has said that it is still early to decide who exactly can be India’s long-term captain in white-ball cricket. Rohit Sharma is currently the all-format skipper, but since he is already 35 and with the makeshift captain, Shikhar Dhawan turning 37 in December, the selectors and the team management would be hoping to groom suitable replacements for the future as far as the Indian team’s limited-overs leadership is concerned.

Meanwhile, Karim reckons that the current vice-captain KL Rahul and wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant can be ideal captaincy choices going forward in white-ball cricket for India. While Pant had led the Men in Blues in the home T20Is against South Africa in June, Rahul had captained in the South Africa ODIs earlier this year and is now leading in the ongoing One Day series against Zimbabwe.

I feel it’s up to the selectors: Saba Karim

“Very early days! I feel it’s up to the selectors to first figure out whether they want to have one player as an all-format captain and if that is the case then you’re left with multiple options. Number one is KL Rahul because he plays all three formats. Number 2, hot on his heels is Rishabh Pant who’s been exceptional in the past couple of seasons. Now he’s grown into an excellent white ball player as well,” said Saba Karim while speaking on SPORTS18’s daily sports news show ‘SPORTS OVER THE TOP’.

“So, you’re left with these two options. But there are so many other things to consider. Number one is for how long Rohit Sharma can continue given his injury woes. So, these things also have to be kept in mind. Are you looking at a young leader? If that’s the case, then let’s get Rishabh Pant in because he’s another player who’ll play all three formats in years to come. So, these are the choices which that the selectors have to deal with,” he added.

Apart from sporadically leading India, both Pant and Rahul have also led the Delhi Capitals as well as the Punjab Kings and the Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL respectively. Other than Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul, the likes of Shikhar Dhawan and star all-rounder Hardik Pandya have also captained India in white-ball cricket in the last few months.

As far as Rishabh Pant’s captaincy performance is concerned, India had levelled the five-match T20I series against the Proteas 2-2. On the other hand, the South Africans handed the Men in Blue a 0-3 whitewash in the ‘Rainbow Nation’ under Rahul’s captaincy while the Indian team has already won the series against Zimbabwe with the latter as captain.