IPL 2022 / IPL an opportunity to find the future Indian captain says Ravi Shastri

IPL 2022 | Former India head coach Ravi Shastri on Tuesday said the 15th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is an opportunity for the Indian cricket team to find a "strong" captain for the future. The upcoming tournament will be an opportunity to assess the talent of Indian captains from Rishabh Pant to Lokesh Rahul and Shreyas Iyer. Shastri, however, heaped praise on current India captain Rohit Sharma, saying he is doing a "great job". Shastri is making a comeback to commentary after seven years but he will be doing this for the first time in the IPL in Hindi.

"Virat is no longer the captain, but Rohit has also been exceptional especially in the white ball," Shastri said in a press conference on IPL broadcaster Star Sports. India will see who will captain the team in future. Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul are in this race right now. The Indian team will be looking for a strong captain for the future and here is the chance. In the last IPL we saw Venkatesh Iyer, nobody had heard of him and by the time it was over he was in the Indian team. So you expect the unexpected. That is the beauty of IPL.

Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya has remained silent on his return to bowling but Shastri believes that the entire nation will be watching his every move in the upcoming IPL. Pandya is set to captain the franchise Gujarat Titans, which is participating for the first time in IPL 2022. The star Indian all-rounder has not played any competitive matches since the ICC T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates last year due to a lower back injury. Shastri said, 'The entire nation will keep an eye on Hardik Pandya's performance in the IPL. We all know what he is capable of.'

Shastri and Suresh Raina will be part of Star Sports' elite commentary panel for this lucrative league. Shastri also said that the upcoming IPL could focus more on fast bowling as the next T20 World Cup is to be played on tough and bouncy Australian pitches.

The 15th season of the Indian Premier League will begin with a match between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday. "I think the Indian team will be eyeing the fast bowling department more than anything else as they are going to Australia after four months of the IPL," said the former head coach.