Not Hardik Or KL Rahul! MSK Prasad Says 29-Year-Old Star Was 'Groomed As India Captain' After Rohit Sharma

MSK Prasad says 29-year-old star and not Hardik Pandya was 'groomed as India captain' after Rohit Sharma. Picture Credit: AP

Former Indian chief selector MSK Prasad has made a big revelation by saying that star India batter Shreyas Iyer was groomed as India captain after Rohit Sharma . According to him, Iyer, who is leading the Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2024 and has won seven out of 10 matches played so far, has a better chance of succeeding at the highest level when he gets the opportunity.

The former India batter said that the 29-year-old Mumbaikar, who led the Delhi Capitals to their first-ever IPL final in 2020, was ahead of Rishabh Pant even when the selection committee looked at options to prepare for the post-Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma era.

"Shreyas Iyer, unlike Hardik Pandya or Ravindra Jadeja, has been groomed (as a captain). He has come through a system," Prasad told Rev Sports.

"If you go back to the stats, in the last two years, when we were at the helm, Shreyas Iyer led the side (India A). I think out of the 10 series that India A played, we won 8. In the majority of those series, Shreyas led the side. He has been in and around as captain. He has been groomed for that particular slot. We felt that post-Virat, post-Rohit Sharma, you needed someone to lead the side. That's when we started thinking about Shreyas Iyer or Rishabh Pant. But even ahead of Pant was Iyer as a captain," he added.

Iyer first made his name as captain in 2018 when he got a chance to lead the Delhi Capitals after Gautam Gambhir stepped down from his role mid-season. Prasad feels Iyer was fortunate that he got a chance to start his leadership career under Ricky Ponting, who was the head coach of DC then.

"He was fortunate enough to lead the Delhi Capitals under Ricky Ponting. The grooming process began there. It was unfortunate that DC could not hang on to Iyer, as Rishabh stepped into his shoes and did reasonably well. The best part was that he moved away from DC so that KKR could give him captaincy responsibility."

"He is slowly maturing into a very good leader. It's very important at the start of your captaincy career to have good team management. That's what he's getting from KKR. He is young, and they are going to invest in him. In the next two or three years, we will see Shreyas evolve into a wonderful captain."

Click here to read article