Former Indian cricketer lends his weight behind Shreyas Iyer as the next white ball captain

With questions rising over Rohit Sharma's captaincy, former Indian cricketer Maninder Singh has opined that Shreyas Iyer may be the right candidate to take over from Sharma in the white-ball format.

"I've been saying this for the past three-four years, you know Shreyas Iyer is my favourite," said Singh in an interview with Hindustan Times.

Maninder added that Hardik Pandya can be the stop-gap captain but it should be Iyer that should take the reins in the future.

"For me, I still feel, I've said it earlier Hardik Pandya at the moment - you can make him the captain in white-ball cricket. But in my mind, its Shreyas Iyer, actually (a candidate) for the past 3-4 years. I really hope that we give him opportunities to play for India regularly in all the formats because he has a good brain."

"Whenever I have seen him lead any side, when he led the IPL side or anywhere, he looks like a good thinker of the game. He's got a good head on his shoulders, and he is somebody who is very positive," he added.

Iyer has become the lynchpin in the middle order for the Indian side in the 50-overs format. He has been the most consistent of the lot since making his debut in 2017.

Having played 37 ODIs, Iyer has scored 1452 runs with an average of 48.4 and a healthy strike rate of 97.25. As for the T20 format, Iyer is yet to lock in a spot due to selection conundrum and his indifferent form.

Singh, however, praised Iyer for his temperament and said he had the quality to score quick runs.

"You can see his approach when he bats, whenever he comes to bat he is looking for runs....if he doesn't get boundaries from the word go, you can see him rotating his strike, he is looking for singles, trying to find the gaps and that’s his quality."

Ever since India's tame exit from the T20 World Cup in Australia, speculations have been growing over the appointment of the next T20I team captain. Hardik Pandya has been leading the race as the new selection committee seeks to phase out the older players and experiment with the youth.

The Indian team has been devoid of any ICC silverware for the last nine years. A change in captaincy and team selection strategy appears to be the obvious short-term fix.

(With inputs from agencies)

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