Former India player turned cricket analyst Ajay Jadeja said that KL Rahul lacks the much-needed “leadership qualities” to become India’s next T20 captain after Virat Kohli. In a recent interaction with Cricbuzz, he explained that KL Rahul hasn’t displayed the aura of a captain around him, despite being leading Punjab Kings for the past two years in the IPL.

He said: “If you look at KL Rahul, he’s been the captain of this team for the past two years, I never get the feeling that he’s a ‘leader’… Whenever this team has gone through a good phase or a bad phase we never look at him. The team (PBKS playing XI) that’s playing today, the changes that have been made, do you think KL Rahul has made these changes? Someone becomes an Indian captain based on his philosophy because he should be a leader. I have not seen that in KL Rahul so far because he’s very soft-spoken and adjusts in everything. If he becomes the captain one day, then it’s a certainty he’ll last the longest because a guy ready to adjust can stay longer in that position.”

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However, the veteran also shared that there’s a “huge difference” between leading an IPL team and a national team as well as leading a national team needs a lot more distinct approach.

He further added: “But there are leadership qualities where whether or not I agree with his philosophy, the Indian captain should at least have one philosophy. Because there’s a huge difference between the captaincy of an IPL team and the Indian team. You have to manage a lot of things there (in the latter).”

So far, KL Rahul has led Punjab in 25 IPL matches, winning 11 and losing 14. In both seasons, under his captaincy, PBKS has finished sixth in the points table as well. However, KL Rahul is PBKS’ top scorer this season and expected to do well in the remaining games also.

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“I don’t know him personally and you see a different version of him too, but generally when he’s on the ground, he has the calmness like MS Dhoni. There are good things too but the biggest thing is that you need to be a leader. People should be debating your decisions, ‘Why is he doing this or that?’. That never happens to him, even in an IPL team, because he has not taken any responsibility upon himself, letting others run the team,” Ajay Jadeja concluded.