'He should have been the next captain' - Former selector reveals India's shelved succession plan for captaincy

There are still some questions about India's captaincy succession plan after Rohit Sharma. Currently, Hardik Pandya is the team's vice-captain in white-ball formats and is most likely to take over the role of captaincy after Rohit Sharma. Hardik has a good record as captain as he led Gujarat Titans to an IPL title and a runners-up title.

Unfortunately, IPL 2024 didn't go too well for Hardik Pandya as his team Mumbai Indians finished last in the points table. Hardik had a poor tournament both as a captain and as a player. Apart from Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, and KL Rahul are also in the mix to become the next captain.

But there is a new addition to this this list recently and that name is Shreyas Iyer. Iyer had a fantastic IPL 2024 in which he led Kolkata Knight Riders to the title win. His calmness and field placements were applauded by his team's coach Chandrakant Pandit, who also considers him as India's captain in the future.

MSK Prasad reveals India's shelved succession plan for captaincy

Former chief selector MSK Prasad recently revealed India's captaincy succession plan after Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. During a chat with Revsportz, Prasad said that Shreyas Iyer has been groomed for the role rather than Hardik Pandya or Ravindra Jadeja.

"Shreyas Iyer, unlike Hardik Pandya or Ravindra Jadeja has been groomed (as a captain). He has come through a system. 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 10 series that India A played, we won 8. In the majority of those series, Shreyas led the side," Prasad said.

"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.

Prasad also mentioned that Iyer was fortunate to lead Delhi Capitals under Ricky Ponting and that was also a part of his grooming process. He hoped Iyer to become a wonderful captain for KKR in the upcoming years as well.

"He was fortunate enough to get to lead 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," Prasad stated.

"He is slowly maturing into a very good leader. It's very important at the start of your captaincy career to have a 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," the former chief selector added.

Shreyas Iyer is not a part of India's T20 World Cup 2024 squad. He was dropped from the Test side after poor returns against England at home. But Iyer is a key part of India's ODI line-up. He is a designated No. 4 batter and has done consistently well in this format.

In the ODI World Cup played last year, Iyer played a vital role in India's road to the final with 530 runs at an average of 66.25. He also scored a brilliant match-winning hundred against New Zealand in the semi-final.

For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram and YouTube.