‘Three captains complicate things’- Akash Chopra against split captaincy for Team India

Aakash Chopra, ex-India opener, has shared his thoughts about the Indian cricket team having three different captains in three different formats. He stated that having such an arrangement will complicate things for the management.

Currently, Shubman Gill captains the Test team, Rohit Sharma is still the ODI captain, and Suryakumar Yadav’s captaincy has made India a force in the T20I format.

According to recent reports, India may decide to permanently use dual captaincy. Nonetheless, Chopra pointed out that continuity is crucial in cricket as opposed to football, where it is not given as much weight.

"A captain has a massive role. There are many team sports where the captain's role is limited. Football, for example, has a very limited role. It's the manager who manages the game from outside. Cricket is not like that. Cricket is a very intuitive game. You cannot spoon-feed a captain there. In such a scenario, you want a little continuity," stated Chopra in a video on his YouTube channel.

Under Shubman Gill, India recently levelled the five-Test series in England 2-2, Rohit Sharma led the Men in Blue to the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 win, and Suryakumar Yadav has made India a force in T20Is, with an eye on the T20 World Cup at home next year.

There will be an overlap: Aakash Chopra on the perils of having three different captains.

The former cricket player who is now a commentator added that while having even two captains could be useful, having three would be overkill. He went on to say that as many Indian players play in several forms, having three leaders with disparate ways of thinking could cause issues.

"Generally, you have a Test captain and a separate white-ball captain. I can still understand two captains. However, three captains for three formats, then it complicates a few things because there will be an overlap somewhere or other in the three formats," he added.

He believed it would be ineffective for athletes to have to adjust to different ideas.

"If you see, Shubman Gill and KL Rahul are playing Tests and ODIs, and Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj are playing all three formats, and suddenly you realize that there is a lot of overlap. If the players are overlapping and the captain changes every time and goes with a different thought process, it leads to dilution," Chopra concluded.

India’s next assignment will be the Asia Cup 2025 in T20 format in the UAE, which begins on September 9.

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