Pragyan Ojha picks three players who can lead India on Sri Lanka tour

Team India is scheduled to tour Sri Lanka even as the Test side will be gearing up for the five-match Test series against England in the UK. The BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has cleared that they will send a second-string team to Sri Lanka where India will play three ODIs and as many T20Is. On the other hand, the Test series between India and England is set to commence on August 4.

With quarantine measures and strict travelling restriction in every country, the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and other all-format specialists won’t be available to face Sri Lanka. This has led to the need to find a new captain for the BCCI. And former India cricketer Pragyan Ojha has given his suggestions for the role.

He feels that KL Rahul or Shreyas Iyer should be handed over the India captaincy as both of them are young and can lead India in future as well. However, both the players are currently recovering from their respective injuries. While Rahul underwent surgery for acute appendicitis during the IPL, Iyer missed IPL itself and is recovering currently from his shoulder injury.

Pragyan Ojha backs Dhawan to lead India as well

Pragyan Ojha also reckoned that in case both of them are unavailable, then the veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan should be handed over the responsibility. “When you talk about a new team, you need a guy who has experience. If Shreyas Iyer or KL Rahul is available then one of these two guys can be the Indian captain or if Shikhar Dhawan is there.

“Out of these three guys you can have one because your captain has to be experienced to handle things. But if you ask me, I can think out-of-the-box at times when you can give a new team and try to build a new captain. Someone who is young and can be your next captain in the years to come, this (SL tour) is a great opportunity,” Ojha was quoted as saying by India Today.

Notably, reports earlier came that Shikhar Dhawan and Hardik Pandya are leading the race of captaining India on the Sri Lanka tour at the moment. Among Pragyan Ojha’s options, KL Rahul has already been selected for England tour depending on fitness clearance. If he doesn’t get fit on time, then Rahul gets time to be ready for the Sri Lanka tour.