Former India batter Mohammad Kaif has criticised the selectors for appointing Shreyas Iyer and Tilak Varma as the captain and vice-captain, respectively, of the T20I team. His comments came ahead of the fourth T20I against England, slated to take place on Thursday, July 9, in Bristol.

Speaking on his YouTube channel (Mohammad Kaif), he said: “You have made two players the captain and vice-captain, who probably don’t even deserve a guaranteed place in the playing XI every match. Yes, Tilak is a 50-50 call. He has won matches and played well. I’m not denying that. But the problem is that you no longer have any flexibility. Once you make them captain and vice-captain, they are automatically undroppable. And because of that, you’re ending up dropping Sanju.”

“That’s why I feel dropping Sanju was a huge decision. You could have managed the situation differently. If Shreyas Iyer hadn’t been the captain, you could have told him, ‘You’ve done well and earned your place back in the team, but right now there’s no spot for you in the playing XI. Wait for your opportunity. Stay with the squad and we’ll see how things go,” he shared.

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“First, we’ll give these three players (Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, and Samson) a chance.’ The people who made this decision deserve to be questioned. I don’t think this has ever happened in Indian cricket history, where someone who wasn’t even part of the T20 team comes straight back as the captain. I don’t think that’s ever happened before,” he further added.

However, Mohammad Kaif added that the selectors and team management would now be realising that they made a big decision by bringing Shreyas Iyer straight into India’s T20I side as captain of the World Cup winning team, replacing Suryakumar Yadav as well.

“You made Shreyas Iyer the captain. But the way I see it, here’s a player who wasn’t even part of the T20 World Cup squad. Forget the World Cup, he wasn’t even in the T20 team. Now they must be realizing that maybe they made a big call. First of all, he wasn’t even in the team. Then he comes straight back into the side as the captain. And not just any team, the team that has already become world champions,” he added.

“Whose place is he taking? He’s replacing a World Cup winning captain. So you can understand the magnitude of that decision. I’m not blaming Iyer here. I’m questioning the people who made the decision to appoint him as captain. They should also be asked a couple of questions,” he concluded.