Harbhajan Singh Picks India's Next T20I Captain; He Is Not Hardik Pandya, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill Or Rishabh Pant

Sanju Samson has led the Rajasthan Royals superbly in three back-to-back seasons. RR, after win over MI on Monday night, became the fifth team in history to claim victory in 7 out of first eight matches.

Harbhajan Singh has named next T20I captain for India. (Source: ANI)

Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh has picked his next T20I captain for Indida. It should be mentioned that Harbhajan did not take name of KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Shubman Gill or Rishabh Pant as the next captain. In a tweet shared after Rajasthan Royals (RR) beat Mumbai Indians (MI) by nine wickets in IPL 2024 in Jaipur, Harbhajan spoke his mind on who should lead India next. MI batted first after winning the toss and put on 179 for 9 in 20 overs thanks to 65 from Tilak Varma and 49 from Nehal Wadhera. It was another disapppointing outing for Hardik who made 10 off same number of balls as MI gave target of 180 to RR.

Yashasvi Jaiswal came back to form with an unbeaten 104 off just 60 balls, hitting 9 fours and 7 sixes respectively in the process. Skipper Sanju Samson played a good knock of 38 not out as RR chased down the target with 8 balls and 9 wickets in hand. This win has strengthened their position at the top of the points table as they now have seven wins from first eight matches.

Harbhajan was very impressed with Yashasvi and praised him by writing that RR opener's knock justifies the statement that 'form is temporary, class is permanent'. But his biggest accolade was reserved for RR skipper Sanju Samson. Harbhajan said that after Rohit Sharma steps down, Samson should become the next captain. He added that Sanju easily walks into the T20 World Cup team and should be groomed under Rohit as the next T20I captain for India.

"Yashasvi Jaiswal’s knock is a proof of class is permanent . Form is temporary @ybj_19 and there shouldn’t be any debate about Keepar batsman. @IamSanjuSamson should walks in to the Indian team for T20 worldcup and also groomed as a next T20 captain for india after rohit. Koi shak," wrote Harbhajan.

Sanju is a calm leader who keeps things simple and works from behind the scenes. Under his captaincy, RR have made it to one final while they failed to make it to the last-two in 2023. This year, RR have almost confirmed their slot in the playoffs and are likely to make another final. Sanju credited his players for good show against MI. He said, "Credit has to go to all the players. Started well in the powerplay. In the middle, the left-handers played unbelievably. But the way we came back was where we won the game. Wicket looked a bit dry. But when lights come in, gets colder in the night, it gets better to bat in the second innings."