Can Shreyas Iyer Become India Captain? Sunil Gavaskar Says "He's Not Even In The Team"
Shreyas Iyer was overlooked as BCCI picked an 18-member squad for five-match Test series against England.
Shreyas Iyer's captaincy in the Indian Premier League has been receiving a lot of praises. He helped Delhi Capitals reach the final of IPL 2020 before leading Kolkata Knight Riders to the title last year. Iyer has now taken Punjab Kings to the final of the 2025 edition. While talking about the leadership skills of Iyer, former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar lauded the star. When asked if Iyer should be groomed for India captaincy, the ex-batter said that the focus should be on Shubman Gill, who has recently been handed the charge of the Test team.
"If he is worthy of being the captain or not, we first need to look at Shubman Gill, who is the Test captain. We need to give him opportunities. If we talk about such things, then we are creating undue pressure on Shubman Gill," Gavaskar said on Sports Tak.
"There is no need to create pressure on Shubman Gill before the England tour. You first need to realise that Shreyas Iyer is not even in the Indian team. There should be no talk about him being made the next Indian captain," he added.
Iyer was overlooked as BCCI picked an 18-member squad for five-match Test series against England, starting June 20. Gill has appointed as the new Test captain of India as regular skipper Rohit Sharma called time on his career in the format last month. Meanwhile, Rishabh Pant has been named his deputy.
Gavaskar feels that talking about Iyer as potential India captain could put more pressure on Gill. He added that the new captain should rather be given confidence.
"When he (Iyer) makes a return to the side then you can have a look at whether he can be made the captain or not. We need to show tremendous confidence in Shubman Gill, who has just been made the Test captain. He is our India captain," said Gavaskar.
"You shouldn't create doubts in his mind, there should be no pressure on him. You shouldn't create pressure, saying, 'Oh look, there is Shreyas Iyer'," he added.
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