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New Delhi: Over the years, those following Indian sports as fans or professionally often find themselves at the cusp of things. Instances where you can see the changes coming through. One has been fortunate to see the leadership of Indian cricket pass from Sunil Gavaskar to Kapil Dev, Mohammad Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, till Virat Kohli and now Rohit Sharma. Now, one can almost see the next lot of leadership for India and names like Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant spring to mind when you think of future captains.
The series in England was quite a revelation in many ways. For one, we saw a new Test captain in Jasprit Bumrah, while the leadership skills of Pandya, seen in the Indian Premier League, were evident frequently, more so in the last One-day International where he not only took the attack to the English bowlers with India in quite a bit of bother, but also coaxed and cajoled Pant into staying on top of things, as the left-hander notched up his maiden ODI century for India.
So, in the same match, we are now seeing the current and future leaders in action, and the way things are going, it is simply a matter of when and not if they’ll take over.
Pant’s patting the last delivery from David Willey for a single after hitting five consecutive fours is a sign of how he is maturing, and hopefully has left his wild swinging days behind. The temptation to go for a sixth boundary in the over must have been overpowering, but Pant opted for a single, looking to seal off the win rather than go for glory.
Of the players in the fray, or out of it, possibly KL Rahul is the most unfortunate, since his position as India captain may now be well and truly up for grabs. Not the best time for any player to go out of circulation, with so many talented ones breathing down his neck.
Even as we watch the younger lot come forward, we can also see the waning of the older set. Rohit Sharma is captain for now, but the wear and tear has begun to show, while Virat Kohli, already past his leadership days, is now struggling with his own demons.
While once can be sympathetic to these players, there is no denying that this is indeed the natural course of things and Darwin’s survival of the fittest is not limited to the wild. The same players were impatient with their seniors as they were struggling, and took over the leadership quickly. This is the cycle of life. And cricket.
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