Manoj Tiwary is not impressed with KL Rahul leading Team India in ODIs against South Africa. The Men in Blue suffered a whitewash in the ODI series. Also, many former cricketing greats have also raised questions on the decision that were taken during the 50-over series by the Indian skipper.
Rohit Sharma was appointed as the skipper of Team India in white-ball cricket by BCCI ahead of South Africa tour. However, the Hitman suffered injury and KL Rahul was given the opportunity to lead the national side. It was a good opportunity for the Indian opener to showcase his leadership skills. But, he poorly failed as a skipper and India had to lose the series.
Manoj Tiwary doesn’t find KL Rahul Captaincy Material
KL Rahul is an experienced skipper, who led Punjab Kings in IPL. Now, he is going to lead Lucknow Super Giants in the upcoming edition of the tournament. But, the Indian cricketer is not convinced that the Karnataka-born cricketer is captaincy material. In an interview, Manoj Tiwary said how a player can be groomed to become a skipper. As per him, leadership qualities are not injected in anyone but come from birth. He added that it will take a long time to groom a player in order to make him a skipper. Also, success is not guaranteed in that case.
“What did you see in Rahul as captaincy material?” Suddenly, they’re saying that they’re grooming him as a future captain. I don’t understand how you can “groom” a captain. A person is either a born leader or he isn’t. Captaincy comes naturally, it’s an inbuilt quality. Grooming a captain is possible, but the process will take a long time. It will take a player around 20 to 25 games to learn about decision-making, but even then success will not be guaranteed. See, every international match is important for India.” Tiwary said.
West Bengal cricketer mentioned that the kind of team that traveled to South Africa shouldn’t have lost the ODI series to South Africa. He mentioned that it is not KL Rahul’s fault but selectors, who should pick an appropriate player to lead the country in international cricket.
“Considering the kind of players we had, we shouldn’t have lost the ODI series 0-3. A few wrong decisions cost us the series. I’m not blaming Rahul for his captaincy, but I’m disappointed with the selectors, who should identify leadership skills in a player rather than “grooming” a captain. That’s why I want to ask the selectors what they saw in Rahul to make him the captain of India.” he added
