The ongoing season of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 has not been kind to accomplished captains, let alone first-timers. Ahead of the start of the season, the Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) franchises announced new leaders in Mayank Agarwal and Ravindra Jadeja, respectively.
Former India coach Ravi Shastri has come out and spoken about these appointments, saying both of them were in the wrong place.
Speaking on ESPNCricinfo's web show, Shastri said, "Mayank Agarwal is in the same boat as Ravindra Jadeja. Guys who have never captained sides, you ask them to captain franchises."
Agarwal captained the entire season with his side ending in the seventh position, while Jadeja gave up his role back to Mahendra Singh Dhoni after suffering six losses from eight games.
The 59-year-old further added that Mayank's Test spot could have been in jeopardy.
"This is no disrespect to Mayank. Because I love the kid. I know how he plays his cricket, how determined he is. But it's putting a guy who is very good at what he does in a wrong place. And it can have problems. Serious problems. Serious repercussions. It could have cost him his place in the Indian side. Test side, everything, because the selectors will judge on current form, they will judge on what they actually see," Shastri explained.
Be very smart about who you pick as captain: Shastri
The right-hander opener played 13 games and accumulated 196 runs, scoring just one fifty at a paltry average of 16.33.
"So it hurts me because I know how good a player he is. But obviously, the pressures of captaincy will weigh on anybody's mind. You saw Jadeja turning out to be a different cricketer. Mayank Agarwal turned out to be a different cricketer. We know how good they are as individual cricketers. In future this is a strong message to the franchise to be very smart about who you pick as captain," the left-arm spinner concluded.
Jadeja has an even poor season, scoring 116 runs and picking five wickets for CSK across ten games.