"Three captains complicate things.." Aakash Chopra not in favour of split captaincy for Indian Cricket Team

Aakash Chopra raised questions over Indian Cricket Team’s split captaincy decision.

Ex-Indian opener Aakash Chopra has expressed his opinions about the Indian Cricket Team‘s use of three different captains across three different formats. According to him, the management will find things more difficult with such an arrangement.

India are now a dominant force in the T20I format thanks to the leadership of Suryakumar Yadav. Rohit Sharma is still the ODI captain, and Shubman Gill leads the test team.

Recent sources suggest that India may choose to employ dual captaincy going forward. However, Chopra said that continuity is more important in cricket than in football, where it is not as important.

“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.

Recently, India, captained by Shubman Gill, drew the five-match test series in England 2-2. While Suryakumar Yadav has turned the T20I team into a dangerous force with their sights set firmly on next year’s home T20 World Cup, Rohit Sharma led the Men in Blue to victory in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.

There will be an overlap if India has three captains: Aakash Chopra

Even while having two captains could be helpful, the former cricket player, who is now a broadcaster, noted that having three would be excessive. He continued by saying that having three leaders with different perspectives could lead to problems because many Indian athletes perform multiple roles.

“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.

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