Originally, Shikhar Dhawan was supposed to lead the men in blue for the upcoming three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe, scheduled to be commencing on August 18 in Harare, as KL Rahul was not named in the squad. However, upon attaining complete recovery from COVID-19, Rahul was included in the squad and he replaced Dhawan as the captain of the team with the latter acting as his deputy. Former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif doesn’t seem to be impressed with the entire episode, saying the situation could have been avoided.
Talking about the same during a recent chat with NDTV, Mohammad Kaif said, “The situation could have been avoided. There might be a miscommunication, and the report of KL Rahul might have come late. He is going there for the Asia Cup, but he would have needed match practice before that. If Shikhar Dhawan was announced as the captain, so the team could have played under him, it would not have made any difference.”
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He further elaborated, “You go as the net-bowler and then you end up playing Tests, and you make your debut. In COVID times, there have been certain changes. But you are right, I completely agree with your question, that if you have announced someone as captain, then the communication could have been better and people would not get the chance to question the call. It is not nice for Shikhar, as a player, he is very chilled out, he will not care.”
While commenting on whether the ODIs require any tweaking, Mohammad Kaif said that things look pretty perfect for now. He reckons that amongst the three formats ODIs are perfect with the way they are. Citing the example of Rishabh Pant’s century against England in the third ODI, Kaif said such innings will help to keep the format alive.
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When asked about his opinion of Virat Kohli missing the ODI series against Zimbabwe, Mohammad Kaif concluded, “Only Virat Kohli can tell what he is feeling. I do not know what sort of communication he has with the selectors. But, you would want to play as many matches as possible, irrespective of whether you are in form or not. We can just hope that this break will help him. We can just hope the break helps him, he comes in Asia Cup and plays match-winning knocks.”
