Ex-Pakistan cricketer Salman Butt is backing three Indian cricketers to replace current India captain Virat Kohli in the future for captaincy. India has been doing well under the leadership of Kohli and they have been very dominating lately, especially in red-ball cricket.
However, Butt feels he sees Rishabh Pant, Rohit Sharma, and Ajinkya Rahane as potential captains in the future if Kohli decides to hang up his boots or gives up captaincy. He believes Pant getting captaincy for his IPL franchise, Delhi Capitals may also open doors for the role in Team India.
"I am not aware of his domestic cricket (records) in-depth but from what I have seen in the IPL, if they handed Rishabh Pant the captaincy (of Delhi Capitals), then the cricket board (BCCI) may have some plans for the future. Even though Kohli is still young as he is not going anywhere for the next 8-9 years," he said.
Pant got the captaincy for Delhi after their full-time captain Shreyas Iyer missed out on the IPL 2021 due to a shoulder injury. The tournament was postponed after DC played eight matches.
It will be interesting to see whether the franchise continues with Pant once the tournament resumes later this year or Iyer will come back as the captain.
Butt further talked about Rohit and lauded his leadership in the IPL. His side, Mumbai Indians have won the title five times. "Along with him (Pant), Rohit Sharma is an outstanding captain. I really like him as a captain. Strategically and tactically, he's a very good captain," he said.
Rahane is the third choice for Butt and he mentioned the famous win of Team India on Australian soil recently in the absence of Kohli. They won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21 by 2-1 despite missing out on some key players.
"Recently, they (India) won the Test series in Australia in which Ajinkya Rahane was handling the captaincy. He also did a very nice job in Australia. Tactically, he was spot on and his decision-making was clear," he said.
"In the long run, let's see who turns up and what kind of a scenario is created. For now, it is not a matter of discussion for Indian cricket. They have 3-4 people anyway," he further said.
