"No one is at fault" - Sourav Ganguly explains why 7 different players have led India in 2022 thus far

BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has provided his views on Team India having seven different captains in 2022 so far. He stated that no one was at fault and believes so many players have received leadership opportunities due to unavoidable circumstances.

Virat Kohli led the team in the Test series against South Africa, while KL Rahul played the skipper's role in the ODIs against the Proteas. Rohit Sharma captained India in the home season, while Rishabh Pant made his captaincy debut against South Africa last month.

Hardik Pandya was named the captain for the Ireland tour, and soon after, Jasprit Bumrah played his first match as Indian captain against England. Later this month, Shikhar Dhawan will lead India in a three-match ODI series against West Indies.

When asked about the reasons behind so many players leading the team in one calendar year, Sourav Ganguly said in an interview with PTI:

"I fully agree that it is not ideal to have seven different captains in such a short span of time but it has happened because of unavoidable situation."

Ganguly continued:

"Rohit was all set to lead in South Africa in white ball but before the tour, got injured. So we had KL (Rahul) leading in ODIs and then for this recent SA home series, KL got injured one day before the series would start."

The former Indian skipper added:

"In England, Rohit was playing the warm-up game when he had COVID-19. No one is at fault for these situations."

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You got to feel for head coach Rahul Dravid: Sourav Ganguly

Virat Kohli was India's Test and ODI captain when Rahul Dravid took over as the head coach (Image: Getty)

In the same interview, Sourav Ganguly mentioned that the captaincy changes were due to unavoidable reasons such as workload management and injuries. He continued:

"The calendar is such that we have had to give players breaks and then there have been injuries and we need to factor in workload management also. You got to feel for head coach Rahul (Dravid) as in every series, due to unavoidable circumstances, we have had new captains."

Sourav Ganguly was also asked if the players are taking too many breaks due to the tight scheduling these days. He replied by stating that in his view, the more games a player plays, the better he gets.

India will be in action on Saturday (July 9) when they take on England in the second T20I of their three-match series.