Former India coach Ravi Shastri reckons that the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is an opportunity for the Indian cricket team to discover a "solid" future captain.
With Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, and Mayank Agarwal leading the different franchises, the IPL 2022 could be mostly about unearthing the next generation of Indian leaders.
"Virat is not being captain anymore, but Rohit has also been outstanding especially in white ball. India will be looking at who will be captaining the team (in future) — there is Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul.
"India will be looking for a solid captain for the future and here is the opportunity," Shastri said on Tuesday (March 22) during a press conference organised by Star Sports, the official broadcaster of IPL 2022.
"... That is the beauty of the IPL, last IPL we saw Venkatesh Iyer, no one had heard of him and by the time it got over he was in Indian team. So you expect the unexpected."
Out-of-favour India all-rounder Hardik Pandya recently said his bowling would be a “surprise” element in the upcoming IPL season and Shastri believes the whole country will be "very closely watching" every move of the Gujarat Titans skipper.
Hardik has been in and out of the Indian team due to fitness issues lately. After going through back surgery in 2019, he has struggled to bowl his full quota of overs regularly. The all-rounder was last seen in action during the ICC T20 World Cup 2021, wherein he bowled only four overs and failed to claim a wicket.
"The whole county would be very closely watching Hardik Pandya in the IPL, we all know what he is capable of," Shastri said.
"Like Hardik there will be a lot of other players who are knocking at the doors of the Indian team."
With the next T20 World Cup slated to be held in the hard and bouncy pitches of Australia, Shastri feels fast bowling could get more attention than anything else in the forthcoming IPL.
"One thing I can say is that they would be watching the fast bowling department more than anything else as they are going to Australia in four months' times after the IPL," he said.
The IPL 2022 will be a 10-team competition with the addition of two new teams in Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants.
"Competition will be terrific this time, with two new teams coming in.. Now there are quite a few teams that will give you a real good run for money. The mix has been very good and it promises a very strong league," Shastri said.
(With PTI inputs)
